Built on a prominent site one block south of the then-new Wheeling Suspension Bridge, facing the main channel of the Ohio and downtown Wheeling beyond, the Phillips–McLure House remains one of the island's most impressive and visible buildings. It was originally a conservative two-story, almost square, five-bay brick house with a gable roof and a double-pile, center-hall plan. John McLure bought the house in 1864, and in subsequent years he or later owners installed more formal interior trim, added a classical portico with a curved central section, and constructed an audacious “dormer tower.” Reminiscent of windowed belvederes that normally rise from the ridge of a roof, it is instead centered on the front slope. Like Hans Phillips, the first owner, McLure was a steamboat builder and could watch his vessels ply the waters of the main channel from this vantage point. (He obviously cared nothing about what might be happening on the narrower back channel.)