The house of the Sovelius House Foundation is the oldest surviving residential building in Raahe. It is the only house representing two-storey urban construction in Raahe because, after the fire of 1810, the construction of two-storey houses was prohibited. The Sovelius House is located on the same plot as the grand town palace built by the first mayor of Raahe, Henric Corte, after the middle of the 17th century. There were three generations of mayors in the Corte family, and they all lived in the same house. After the mayors, the plot and its buildings were held by different owners until they were bought by merchant Matts Sovelius on 5 May 1777. Merchant Sovelius (13 December 1726–25 January 1795) built an impressive new main building on the plot, which has been preserved until today almost in its original appearance. According to the population register, residents moved to the property during the 1780s.

The Sovelius House is a typical 18th-century bourgeois house.  It is a two-storey building with a saddle roof on a high stone foundation, with exterior walls of vertical timber weatherboarding. It also has a Carolinian floor plan. These are all features that came into fashion during the 18th century. According to the surviving fire insurance documents, the Sovelius House was completed in the early 1780s. The rooms upstairs were raised and the windows enlarged in the 1890s. The porch on the courtyard side was built in the 1910s. Supposedly, at the same time, separate entrances were made for both floors. Otherwise, the house has preserved its original appearance amazingly well, including the room arrangements. The pure Carolinian floor plan can be seen on both floors: behind the wide hall, there is a drawing room with two rooms on each side.

In 1886, merchant and alderman Henrik Sovelius established the Soveliuksen Apurahasto (Soveliuska understödsfonden) fund, which owns the Sovelius House. The Sovelius House was to become a residence for members of the family and possibly other tenants. Between 1897 and 1912, the Swedish Club, which was maintained by an association called Svenska bildningens vänner, was located on the upper floor of the building. The Raahe teacher seminary’s canteen cooperative “Oma Pata” was also a tenant in the house in 1909–12. Otherwise, the tenants have been private individuals. Since 1974, the house has been rented to the Town of Raahe. The Raahe Music School operated in the house until 1989, and now it has been leased to the Raahe Museum under a long-term lease agreement.

Based on a surface treatment study, a conservation plan was made and the upstairs was restored to its 1890s appearance. The Shipowner’s Home, an 1890s home interior complete with furniture, green plants, paintings and accessories, was opened in 1999. The Shipowner’s Home is a window on the lifestyle and way of life of a prosperous bourgeois home during Raahe’s heyday during the Age of Sail.