Clauss Hauss II's origins go back to its namesake, the couple Alfred and Jane West Clauss. They had purchased the upper portion of an ongoing development on the outskirts of Knoxville, TN of simple log cabin style houses, called "Little Switzerland." The couple's vision entailed 10 International Style houses along the ridge of Brown's Mountain, cohesive as a unit but varied, providing stellar views of the Great Smoky and Cumberland Mountains. The pair were architecturally knowledgeable, with Alred having left Mies van der Rohe's Austria office in 1930 and Jane West working under LeCorbusier until 1934. However, only half of their original ten houses were completed before their careers whisked them away to Philadelphia, however they left behind what is likely the first realize enclave of International Style houses in the US. The Redwood House, as it's commonly known, is the second house built by the Clauss couple for their growing family, designed and constructed whilst the Clausses were living on the site in 1939. The house's current owner purchased it in 2015 before embarking on a $290,000 renovation, guided by the NPS Preservation Standards while anticipating a future application to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Clauss Hauss II has undergone significant renovations since its purchase in 2015. The previously appended sloped rooves were removed and the original flat rooves were reestablished with new membrane surfaces. The original hidden roof access with a ships ladder within the Living Room's built-in cabinetry was reactivated as well. Warped and decayed redwood was replaced with newly milled pieces, matching the same "Dolly Varden" style as the original. The existing redwood siding was covered with thick layers of red paint, and required a multi-step restoration process of Peel Away products, pressure washing, sanding, and coating with a no-stain UV stable sealer. On the interior of the residence, 20' x 40' floor plates with 800 sq ft underpin the three major revisions made in the spirit of the original plan diagram. This involved reducing the number of bedrooms and changing the configuration of certain rooms such as the kitchen and dining space to make them contiguous. A notable innovation that remains is the "Split foyer" entryway, the first of its kind in the United States and implemented throughout Little Switzerland. The renovation took over five years and enormous effort, with all new work being designed in response to what remained of the original structure.