The property at 479-489 Talbot St., is also known as Camden Terrace. Like many places in London Ontario it is named after a street in London England. Camden Terrace was built around 1870, by Samuel Peters and has long been a part of the Talbot streetscape. Samuel Peters was London's first city engineer in 1855, its first resident professional architect and was largely responsible for the layout and appearance of the early city. The building style and former inhabitants represent an important cross section of the historical population of London. This building is a set of row houses comprised of six units which are grouped into three larger sections- two units each. The units in a section share a porch and are divided from the other sections by a firewall. Nearly the entire building is constructed from 'London White' brick a local brick colour that did not use iron oxide dye to make it red.

The property demonstrates a few elements of the Italianate style, which was a very popular architectural style on Talbot St. These elements include large frontal facades, window and roof cornices and an ornate brick frieze. Although these elements are Italianate in their reproduction, they form a smaller part of the typically English feel to the building style. The real value of the house is in its example of a Victorian terrace. The term terrace refers to the style of uniform row houses. This kind of construction was popular from the 1860s to 1900, but it fell out of favour in the early twentieth century. Only a few examples of this building style remain, and Camden Terrace may be the oldest in London.

Terraces were typically residential, but often included a few store fronts. This is true of Camden Terrace as well. Due to its proximity to the downtown core, even in relation to the other terraces, the inhabitants of Camden Terrace reflect both business owners and labourers for the downtown area as well as for the surrounding London area. The historical or associative value of this house is more in its association with the working class history of downtown London. It also has an association with women's history in London. In 1890 the tenants of Camden Terrace appeared to be entirely widows, of who some of the early tenants/owners include a Mrs. Carfrae, a Mrs. Ridout and a Mrs. Harris. All of these names are linked and are synonymous with early important families in the London area.

Historical information researched and provided by Megan Arnott, Masters in Public History, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.