With a lead gift from Mary Jeanne and Henry Harris, the Laboratory obtained a lease-purchase option on the recently vacated former schoolhouse just two miles from the main CSHL campus.

In the early 1920s, Mrs. Jennings, trustee, spearheaded the building project for this one story Georgian-style revival brick schoolhouse. Construction began early in 1925 and was completed by the fall. The floor plan consisted of three classrooms, an auditorium and stage, and a library.

From June 1987 to December 15, 1992, the Dolan DNA Learning Center leased the building and then exercised its option to buy the building in the early part of 1993.