The supervising architect was James Renwick, Jr., who also designed several other buildings on the island for the Charities and Correction Board as well as more famous works such as St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Its architect is unknown, but it shows the influence of James Renwick, who in the years before had pioneered the mansard-roofed buildings that evolved into the Second Empire style with the original Corcoran Gallery in Washington and, closer to Hudson, Main Building at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.
On returning to the United States, he accompanied his uncle, James Renwick, one of the commissioners on the northeastern boundary survey.
James Renwick, Jr. (American architect) (1818–1895), son of the physicist
Continuing in the family tradition, Brevoort initiated his study of architecture in 1850 with his cousin, James Renwick, Jr., designer of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
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One brother, James Renwick, Jr., was a leading US architect, designer of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grace Church, Vassar College, the Smithsonian Institution and the Croton Aqueduct.
Quoting from archives: "These papers consist of Hough's correspondence with David Dale Owen concerning the selection of stones for the Smithsonian Building and an original proposal for the Smithsonian Building from the architect, James Renwick, Jr.