Port Washington's Mediterranean Revival style Fire Engine House was built in 1929 on the site as the city’s previous fire house, a wooden multi-purpose building that had been built in 1884. Architect John Topzant of Milwaukee designed the new building; he gave it tan brick walls, a Spanish tile roof, and copper gutters and downspouts. A particularly fine feature of the building is the bell tower-like hose drying tower.

When it was first built, the first story of the engine house housed a garage for fire engines, a meeting room for the firemen, a kitchen, bath and shower rooms, and storage space, while the basement story contained additional garage space and a repair room. Between 1929 and 1938, a matching addition was attached to the rear of the building that provided space for a first story office and for a larger rear stairway.

This building served as a fire engine house until 1975 when a larger replacement fire house was built just across Wisconsin Street. Subsequently, the 1929 engine house was converted into a center for Port Washington's senior citizens. Despite the change in use, the engine house is in largely original condition and most of the changes made to the exterior have been confined to alterations of the original garage door openings.