The Glaumbær Farmhouse is said to have stood on the hill at Glaumbær since the Age of the Settlements, around 900 AD. The present buildings vary in age; the most recent addition having been built in 1876-79, while the oldest are believed to have been preserved much as they were in the mid-18th century. The passages connecting the individual units have also remained unchanged for many centuries.
The form of the farmhouse as it is today is similar to that of many large farmhouses in Skagafjörður from the 18th and 19th centuries. Between 1879 and 1939, the farmhouse at Glaumbær remained unchanged; it was repaired and declared a conserved site in 1947, the year the last inhabitants moved out. An English benefactor, Sir Mark Watson, contributed a gift of £ 200 for the renovation of the farmhouse, which was crucial to its preservation.
The farmhouse is built of turf, stones, and timber. The walls are built of stones and of pieces of turf layed up in a herringbone pattern, with long turf strips between the layers.
