Southern Standard of November 12, 1852, carried a lengthy description of the mansion and of a "great festive entertainment" which had occurred during the previous week. An architectural evaluation headed the article:
. . . Our townsman. Colonel Charles McLaran, recently had erected on one of the most eligible and beautiful situations within the limits of our city, a splendid and costly brick mansion, the crowning architectural structure among the many stately edifices, private and public, that adorn our city, and delight the eye of the stranger en passant, - and which, in dimensions and external grandeur - internal arrangements, style and exquisit [sic] finish is, probably, superior to anything of the kind to be found in the Southern States."