It was an elite residence as evidenced by the atrium being surrounded by rooms on all four sides and its rather exclusive vestibulum. These instruments discovered in the house, crafted from bronze and iron, include forceps, scalpels, probes, and other tools indicative of advanced Roman medical knowledge and surgical practices. These artifacts are now housed in the Naples National Archaeological Museum, offering significant insight in to of the integration of medical knowledge into everyday life in ancient Rome.

The house was thought to be one of the oldest examples in Pompeii with a date of the fourth–third century BCE derived from the style of wall construction. However, in 1926 A. Maiuri made some excavations beneath the atrium which revealed an earlier layer of building rubble in which a late third century BCE (circa 214-212 BCE) coin was found, which with the third–second century BCE date of the earlier wall beneath the tablinum, suggests that the house is dated to no earlier than circa 200 BCE. However, the results were never published.

In the final years of Pompeii, unlike its neighbour, the House of the Vestals, which had blossomed into one of the more luxurious homes in the area. The house seems to have been allowed to fall derelict, as the floor between the atrium and tablinum had fallen into a large cistern below, wooden posts were inserted into the floors of many rooms to support a damaged roof, and one room was used as a lime-storage tank.

In 2005, a further sub-79-CE-level excavation was carried out in the entire insula VI 1. The excavations revealed that that the atrium was modified in the second century BCE to provide more light to the interior of the house, by adding a compluvium and accompanying impluvium basin to the previously full roofed atrim. The remainder of the house, however, was left mostly as it was, so it was indeed one of the earliest Italic-style houses found so far in Campania.

circa 150 BCE

Floor Plan
Architecturally, the house follows the traditional Roman atrium-tablinum-portico scheme, featuring a central atrium surrounded by living quarters and workspaces.

circa 150 BCE

Construction
The walls of the house bear evidence of early construction techniques, utilizing opus quadratum (large rectangular blocks) of tuff stone, indicative of its archaic origin predating many other structures in Pompeii. Frescoes and decorative elements are minimal compared to later homes, reflecting its practical rather than luxurious nature.

Despite being modest in size and not much artistic or decorated externally, the House of the Surgeon was built strong and sturdy in opus quadratum ashlar façade in Sarno stone, and opus africanum construction of the atrium courtyard.

circa 150 BCE

Oecus-Cubiculum
The small chamber (an oecus or cubiculum), had a vaulted room with painted walls and large fresco panels in the middle. On the east wall of this chamber a fresco depited a young woman painting a herm (bust/statue) of Roman god Dionysus.

circa 150 BCE

Fresco of A Woman Painting Dionysus' Herm
Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 9018 Found 22nd June 1771 on east wall of room 9, room to south of garden.