The building, probably the headquarters of the corporation of the fabri navales (ship builders), is traditionally dated in around the mid-2^nd century AD, but recent studies have suggested a 3^rd century AD chronology.

Its monumental façade is an exedra with columns (A) giving access to a vestibule with side rooms with niches (B), in one of which stood the statue of the emperor Trajan.

Axonometric reconstruction of the building (I. Gismondi)

Façades of the building (G. Goldoni)

Inside, the building was arranged around a large courtyard with a brick colonnade and a central basin (C). Later, at the back of the courtyard a banqueting hall (D) and other public rooms were built, decorated with mosaic floors and wall paintings in imitation of a marble veneer.

The building was erected above earlier houses, the oldest of which (Domus dei Bucrani) dates to the 1^st century BC. The remains of a domus (house) of the early Imperial period (E) can still be seen in the courtyard of the Schola, including a peristyle and some mosaics.

Statue of Trajan (Museo Ostiense)	Mosaic in banqueting hall D
	Paintings from the Domus dei Bucrani