The Henry Hug family arrived in Santa Clara with the original Swiss Company in November 1861 and, like others in the group, lived first in wagon boxes and hillside dugouts until better shelter could be built. In 1870 the Hugs built this home, originally with a dirt cellar, two rooms on the main floor, an attic room reached by a tiny twisting staircase, and walls of sandstone block and adobe brick; original bricks remain visible in the attic along with beams said to be from timber taken from Pine Valley Mountain. The family remained in the Santa Clara Valley until selling the home to John and Anna Gubler in 1880. The house was later remodeled sometime in the 1920s-1930s to add a modern kitchen and bathroom, and it was stuccoed at an unknown date, presumably to reinforce the original adobe brick. Its architecture represents the Greek Revival temple-form style, popular during the settlement period in Utah Territory, while its swag-like gingerbread trim reflects Gothic Revival, or Carpenter Gothic, and early photographs indicate that this trim was part of the original home, though apparently less extensive than it appears today. During restoration, a piece of the trim was taken to a craftsman who duplicated it for replacement. The house became a landmark for Santa Clara City, and its restoration helped spark renewed community pride in the Swiss heritage of Santa Clara's founders, who had come to the area after being called to the assignment by Brigham Young, governor of Utah Territory and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When plans arose in the early 1990s to tear the house down, the Santa Clara Historical Society led successful rescue efforts that restored it as a small museum and home for the Society and helped lead to the establishment of Heritage Square, including the house, the Historical Relief Society Building, and the surrounding grounds.