The Ainsley House was built in 1925 for J.C. Ainsley, a prominent local businessman. Its design drew from the English Cotswold cottage tradition, with steeply pitched rooflines, textured stucco walls, and half-timbering that evoked the rural architecture of Gloucestershire. The California Arts and Crafts movement, which prized handcraftsmanship and natural materials, provided the philosophical framework. The result was a house that felt simultaneously English and Californian, its cottage proportions softened by the mild climate and the gardens that surrounded it.

When development threatened the Ainsley House at its original location, Campbell's community rallied to save it. The house was moved to a site adjacent to the Campbell Historical Museum, where it could serve as a public museum while retaining its residential character. The accompanying carriage house, now the Wyland R. Morgan Gallery, was moved as well. The relocation was a significant undertaking that demonstrated the community's commitment to preserving its pre-suburban heritage in a valley that was rapidly paving over its past.

Today the Ainsley House operates as a museum open to the public, its rooms furnished to reflect the lifestyle of a prosperous Santa Clara Valley family in the 1920s and 1930s. The gardens have been restored to period-appropriate plantings. The carriage house gallery hosts rotating exhibitions and community events. Together with the adjacent Campbell Historical Museum, the Ainsley House creates a small campus of local history in a city that might otherwise have lost all physical connection to its pre-tech identity.