The Clarke-Palmore House is part of an area known historically as Marion Hill. In contrast to the adjacent buildings, which are on small parcels of land, the house, a two-story, threebay, side-hall-plan brick structure, still retains a moderately large plot. Also surviving are a brick smokehouse and a rare small brick barn. During the Civil War, Confederate defense Battery No. 7 stood several hundred yards south of the house. The hill area was used as a message station where coded messages were beamed by mirror from the roof of the state capitol to the upper floor of the Clarke-Palmore House, a distance of two miles. (Trees have since grown to obscure this view.) Henrico County recently purchased the property and is planning to preserve and interpret the building.