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Architect Paul Hayden Kirk designed the three duplex residences at 5521, 5525 and 5529 25th Avenue NE as investment properties. Two of the houses--5525 and 5529--had exactly the same floor plans, while that of 5521 was a mirror image of the other two. Kirk sought to provide housing for young families, during the acute postwar shortage. The first floor apartments contained two bedrooms, the basement units had one. Courtyards separated each house with steps leading down a relatively sharp grade. The rear (west) facades faced onto Ravenna Park; upper floor apartments had balconies looking out into the parkland, while lower units had glazed windows and doors and paved terraces to take advantage of the bucolic setting. Each house had a shallowly pitched gable-front roof with walls of cedar clapboard siding. Living and dining rooms in each unit were unified spaces all facing west. These living/dining areas were enlarged through the use of extensive windows and terraces or balconies. Kirk oriented bedrooms to the east. Stairways linked upper and lower units, allowing shared laundry facilities on the lower floors. The Kirk Family sold the three units to Otto R. and Liesel M. Rombouts in 1985 for $266,000.

This house occupied a 3,320-square-foot lot in 2010.