Like the McFarlane House in Richmond (
AS29) , the McNamara House is New Orleans–like in its large scale and central dormer. The house is a five-bay, center-passage, raised cottage. Double front doors and shuttered windows that open from floor-level sills within the front veranda are elements that imbue this simply composed house with its sense of grandeur. The original owner, an Irish immigrant, was a cotton factor and a wool and hide broker. In 1959 the descendants of McNamara and his wife, Mary Ann Buckley, gave the house to what would become the Victoria Regional Museum Association. It is operated as a historic house museum.