Built in 1886 at a cost of $3,900.00, Scout's Rest Ranch's house was planned by Cody's sister, Julia Goodman, and constructed by Patrick Walsh as a two-story, nine-room house with numerous closets and pantries. The house was built in Second Empire style with Italianate and East Lake features, and Cody asked only that it be finished in six months, by October 15 at the latest, and that its porches be 10 feet wide instead of the customary 6 feet. With carpeting and furniture, the cost came to about $6,000, and Cody ordered Royal Wilton, the latest style in carpeting, for the downstairs front rooms and requested that all the furniture match in elegance. The rear addition was added in 1909. Before 1886, Cody's ranch had no particular name, but when he built this house he hoped to retire soon and become a gentleman farmer, so he began calling the place Scout's Rest Ranch. In 1887, when the big barn was built, he had Scout's Rest Ranch painted on the roof in huge letters, as they are today.