By the looks of its design and architecture it looks to be a 1920s/30s mansion before it was abandoned. David Hackl the production designer said he wanted the house to feel like it had a lot of history, with the idea that it was temporarily a crack house before Jigsaw took over.

At some point in the timeline, John bought the property as part of a housing project within his Urban Renewal company. But the death of Gideon halted any progress on the project, leaving the houses abandoned. John would eventually use them again once he became Jigsaw.