Constructed between approximately 1895 and 1919, the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House is a one-and-one-half-story wood-frame vernacular residence with an L-shaped plan, side-gable roof, and front porch. Weatherboard siding, brick foundations and chimneys, six-over-six double-hung sash windows, and a porch with chamfered posts and turned balusters contribute to its late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century character. Although oral tradition suggested an earlier construction date, National Register research places the existing house and rear outbuilding within the 1895–1919 period.

The house derives exceptional historical significance from its long association with Modjeska Monteith Simkins, a leading South Carolina public health worker, educator, civil rights organizer, and NAACP leader. After moving to the house, Simkins used it as her residence, office, meeting place, and lodging for civil rights associates, including Thurgood Marshall. Her work in public health and her involvement in the NAACP, including efforts connected with the Briggs v. Elliott school desegregation case, made the property an important center of South Carolina’s civil rights history. The house was listed in the National Register in 1994 and became part of the African American Civil Rights Network in 2021.