This large house near the center of town typifies the comfortable lifestyle that leading nineteenth-century citizens enjoyed in courthouse towns across the state. The two-story brick house is set well back from the street. It was begun in 1841, and a c. 1871 addition more than doubled its size. Vaguely Italianate but basically vernacular, the house has several intersecting gables, expansive porches, and a breezeway that connects to a board-and-batten service structure. James McGrew (1813–1910), a leader in the movement against Virginia's secession, was instrumental in forming the new state of West Virginia. He served in the first state legislature and later became a U.S. congressman. The Society for Preservation of McGrew House now owns the house and is restoring it.