Comprising a section of the former Annalena convent, this studio doubled as a dwelling for Hiram Powers, a well-known 19th-century American photographer and sculptor, from 1839 until 1852. During this period, Powers created some of his most famous works, including the Greek Slave, Fisher Boy, and Eve Tempted. The building consisted of four floors: the studio was on the ground floor while the family occupied the third and fourth floors (the building's owner lived in the second floor).

Elizabeth Barret Browning grew up on the Hope End Estate in Herefordshire, where her family moved in 1809. They remained there until 1832, when financial difficulties arising from the Baptist War, a slave rebellion that impacted the economic stability of the Barretts' Jamaican plantations, compelled them to relocate to Sidmouth, Devon, in the southeast of England.