Built in 1879, the stately yellow house with white trim at 251 North Main Street has been a home to six generations of one Suffolk family.

Richard Seth Eley had the home built in the Second French Empire Victorian style, which made it stand out from the others that lined Main Street.

“There are only a couple other homes in the area that have the same style,” said Hunter Duggan, who now lives in the home with her husband, Bill, and two children. “It’s very unusual.”

Distinctive features of the home’s French architecture include a curved roof with an iron cresting at the top of the roof and slate tiles.

“When I tell people I live in the house with the fence at the top and flowers on the roof, they know which one it is,” Duggan said.

Duggan moved into the house in 1994, after her grandmother passed away in 1992.

Duggan’s grandmother, the grand-daughter of Eley, was born and raised in the home and raised her children, Duggan’s mother and aunt in it.

Duggan’s children are the sixth generation to live in the home.

“When I was in ninth grade, I wrote an essay about my favorite place in the world, and it was this house,” Duggan said. “Growing up it was a place to come and visit my nana. The house was special, but the memories are even more special. My mom has celebrated all but one Christmas in this house.”