Chappell, the founder of the Victor Fuel Company, was closely identified with the development of the coal and coke industry in Colorado. 1555 Race Street was the first house owned by Mr. Chappell, who was also the first occupant. Chappell sold the house in 1907 and purchased the Horace W. Bennett house at 1304 Logan Street, a twenty-two room mansion, later to be known as the Chappell House. Delos Allen Chappell's heirs donated the Logan residence to the Denver Art Association in 1922 as a memorial to their parents.

The Race Street house, constructed in 1895, is believed to have been a speculation house designed by Frank S. Snell, a real estate man later turned architect. 1555 Race and its sister house to the north were constructed by the Burleigh Building Company.

Construction started only two years after the Silver Crash of 1893, while the economy of Denver was still in recession, it was finally finished and occupied by the Chappell Family in 1899. Subsequent owners of the house were Luella Lewis, Margaret B. Wilson, William H. Dickson (an attorney), The Iliff School of Theology, Dorothy Lee and William E. Minton. The last owner, Charles S. Davis, rented 1555 Race Street to the Temple of Practical Christianity from 1935 until 1941. Mr. Davis sold the house to its current owner, Unity Temple of Practical Christianity on May 29, 1941.

The design of the house represents the trend to break away from the flamboyance of the Victorian period and the move toward the restraint of the Neoclassical. The house is surrounded by houses designed by William Lange, the premier Denver Victorian architect.