The Refour House exemplifies Waldensian domestic architecture uninfluenced by American building traditions. The original house, which still stands on the eastern end of town, combines home and barn in one structure. After the Refours arrived in Burke County, a wooden structure like the Tron House was erected quickly for shelter from the approaching winter, and soon afterward, in typical Waldensian style, two-foot-thick walls of fieldstone were built. The three-story house has a wide, shallow fireplace unlike American counterparts, with family living space on the second floor, sleeping quarters on the top floor, and a basement that housed animals on one end and a wine cellar on the other. In the Old Country, combining house and barn conserved farming space, protected animals during avalanches or deep snows, and allowed animal heat to warm the rooms above. After the early settlers realized the snows were not coming, they put their animals out to pasture. Francois and Mrs. Refour lived there with their family, and their daughter Anna was born in the original home in 1918 and still lives in the family home adjacent to the original house.