Born in New York state, Alexander H. Phillips and his wife, Susan B. MacRae, had Victoria's leading mid-nineteenth-century building professional, Richard Owens, construct their two-story, five-bay, central-hall-plan suburban villa just over the city limit line on North Street. The house was unusual in being constructed of brick rather than wood. The 1877 bird's-eye view of Victoria shows the house as a two-story I-house at the far edge of town, facing east into an orchard (to judge from the regular layout of trees) that occupies what is now the city block bounded by Craig, North, Victoria, and Nueces streets. In 1893 the second owner, Samuel Dabney, also a lawyer, had Jules Leffland remodel the house. The present peaked hipped roof, central dormer, and double-level veranda reflect Leffland's alterations, as does the one-story wood wing, probably also by Leffland.