This is the largest of a few remaining Italianate Victorian (1840-1885) houses located in the Moriches Bay Historic Corridor. The 2 1/2 story, 5-bay flat roof main section is surmounted with a bracketed tower (cupola). It is a wood frame building with interlocking joints and clapboard siding. The building has a 2-story, 2-bay wing on the west side and a large 2-story wing on the rear. Paired heavy-scrolled brackets separate the frieze windows under the eaves of the main unit. Similarly paired brackets are also on the wings. The porch across the main unit and on the wing (sometime later it was closed in) has square chamfered posts, heavy spandrels, and single heavy-scrolled brackets. The 2-over-2 windows, most with the original glass, extend almost to the floor. Three fireplaces and the (original) kitchen stove tried to keep the giant house warm. The classic over-scaled picket fence and gates along the street front are of original design.

In the rear of this large house was once a barn complex made up of a sheep barn, storage shed, pump house and stable, which was converted to a modern house in 1985.

This great house was built in the mid to late 1850s and is plotted on the Beers Comstock Atlas 1873. An 1877 LIRR brochure refers to it as a handsome country residence and lists its owner at the time as J.C. Hoe. It is also on the Chase Map, Tow of Brookhaven, 1885.

Originally it was built for a physician who used the two upper floors as his residence and the ground floor rooms to treat his patients. The large living room was the hospital for patients requiring longer stays. The financial panic of 1873 and subsequent economic depression proved too much for the doctor and he lost the house.

J.C. Hoe, a wealthy New York real estate dealer, became the new owner. He converted the house to a family residence and had the barns, windmill, pump house and stables built. Several servants were employed to take care of the estate.

Not much is known about the next owner (a man by the name of Jefferts), but the one following was William H. Chapman. William and his brother Joseph were in business together, known as Chapman Brothers Builders, from 1888 until 1913, when William assumed the business on his own. In 19806, his son Charles was taken into the firm. In 1907, they opened a lumberyard in East Moriches under the name William H. Chapman and Son.

William modernized the house while living there. Art deco fixtures and furnishings were added to the house. After his passing, the house went to his son Charles Chapman.

In the mid-1980s, a local real estate person succeeded in changing the zoning from residence to commercial and the stable out back was converted to a weekend rental unit, which was not a successful venture. Soon thereafter, the great house was used as an antique shop. About the same time, the stable/weekend retreat was converted to a modern house, which it is today.

The house was identified as the Jefferts/William Chapman House - but some locals referred to it as "The White Elephant."

Just prior to SBBF acquiring the house, the chef-owners were Osvaldo and Nohemi Cuenca. In late 1997 and early 1998, they converted the house into a cafe. It could host less than 30 diners and served international cuisine with a French accent. They named the house the "White Truffle Inn."

When the restaurant closed, apparently because of severe family illness, the tables were left with their place settings, with goblets and silverware in white tablecloths ready for dinner guests. The eclectic kitchen was stocked with spices, pots and pans, and sundry items ready to serve the next meal.

On May 12, 2007, the congregation sponsored a huge yard sale on the property to make way for the new church, South Bay Bible Fellowship.