Planter and cotton broker Thomas Henderson built Magnolia Hall, a two-story house that illustrates the late-1850s transition from classical to picturesque. Dominated by a giant-order Ionic portico, the house features Italianate details, including a bracketed cornice, arched door panels, and scroll brackets supporting the cornices of the upper and lower doorways. The stucco finish is painted and scored to resemble fashionable brownstone. The interior detailing is largely Italianate with a scroll newel post, marble mantelpieces with cartouches and arched fire chambers, and a reticulated plaster cornice in the entrance hallway.
Magnolia Hall’s two-story L-shaped attached service wing housed upper-story slave quarters and features double-tiered galleries facing a rear courtyard. The original kitchen and pantry extend from the side elevation of the house. In the 1970s, the house was donated to the Preservation Society of Ellicott Hill, affiliated with the Natchez Garden Club, which opens the house to the public.