700 Broadway is a two-story Italian villa-style townhouse that was restored for the offices of the Historic Columbus Foundation in 1977. Historic Columbus Foundation moved its offices in 2002 to the Rankin House, 1440 Second Avenue. In December 2006, the house was named for Ms. Janice Persons Biggers, the first Executive Director of the Historic Columbus Foundation.

700 Broadway was the only two-story brick home in the original city of Columbus. The exterior and interior of the walls are solid brick. The first floor is open to tour and has an appropriately furnished parlor, dining room, a library and a bedroom. Original mantelpieces are retained throughout the house. The ceilings are 14 feet high. The light fixtures in this house are gasoliers. The second floor, formerly bedrooms with a wide central hallway, houses the offices of the Junior League of Columbus.

700 Broadway stands on a lot surveyed as part of the original 1828 town plan. The home has had a storied past. It was occupied until recently by a series of influential families, including that of the late Georgia Supreme Court Justice Sterling Price Gilbert and during the Second World War served as an apartment building.

Displayed on the Back Porch walls are some of the different historic sights around Columbus. There are three National Historic Landmarks within the city limits. There are only 2000 in the country and 40 in the state of Georgia, and Columbus is home to three. One National Landmark is the Industrial Waterfront District, which includes the Columbus Iron Works. "The Iron Works, though less than a decade old in 1860, manufactured a wide variety of merchandise: kettles and ovens; brass castings; cast-iron columns and store fronts; sugar, grist, and saw mills; and steam engines to power these mills, cotton gins, and river boats." In 1860, Columbus was the second largest industrial city in the South after Richmond, VA. During the War Between the States, the Iron Works produced cannons and mortars, as well as engines and boilers for gunboats. It burned in 1902 but has since been completely restored. It now serves as the Columbus Convention and Trade Center.

The second National Landmark is the Springer Opera House. The Springer is a Victorian theatre built in 1871. It was almost destroyed in the 1960's to build a parking lot, but was saved and restored. The Springer Opera House is now the State Theatre of Georgia.

The third National Landmark is the Folly, the only double-octagonal house in the United States. The first octagon consists of a central chimney and a fireplace in each of the rooms, and the second octagon is a bedroom.

In the parlor of 700 Broadway, the stained-glass windows are original to the house. The fireplaces in this house are small because they are coal burning instead of wood burning. On the wall next to the secretary is a portrait of Dr. Edwin L. deGraffenreid. He was one of the five Governor-appointed Commissioners who directed the original town plan and survey of 1828. The city is in a grid pattern with the streets running east and west or perpendicular to the river and the avenues running north and south. The original plan did include a church square where many of the churches are still standing and a courthouse square where the Government Center Tower is today.

As a medical doctor, Dr. deGraffenreid felt that the streets in the downtown area needed to be wide for health and sanitary reasons. The doctor discovered that the reason people got so sick so fast was because they lived too close together. If they lived farther apart, diseases would be transmitted at a slower rate and frequency. As a result the streets in the historic district are 99 feet wide; avenues are 132 feet wide; and Broadway is 162 feet wide. Broadway is particularly wide because it was to be the chief residential street.

Dr. deGraffenreid was regarded by the Creek Indians as being an exceptional man. During an outbreak of smallpox, he treated their sick and saved many from death. To show their appreciation, they periodically gathered behind his house and seated themselves around a fire with blankets over their heads and muttered deep guttural sounds intended for blessings.