Architectural historians consider the Francis Costigan House a masterpiece of nineteenth century design. The house is situated on a narrow city lot measuring only 22 feet in width at 408 West Third Street in the Madison, Indiana Historic District. Costigan built this house in 1850 as his private residence.

The brick two-story house is Greek Revival in style and has a portico with two fluted columns capped with Corinthian capitals. The portico is heavily adorned and includes a sliding pocket door entry. The ceiling of the portico is particularly interesting. It is deeply coffered and heavily decorated. The interior of the house has a magnificent drawing room thirty feet long with bow end, twin fireplaces, and a fine, high ceiling with deeply depressed panels, heavily ornamented with egg-and-dart moldings.

The house shows Costigan’s characteristically fine woodwork, including both curved and sliding doors and an interesting stepladder staircase with a push gate at the top. This creative use of space reflects Costigan’s skill and ingenuity as an architect to create such an elegant house in a limited space.