Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House
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Capt. Robert B. Forbes House
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Front facade, in 2009
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| Location | Milton, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°15′47″N 71°3′49″W / 42.26306°N 71.06361°WCoordinates: 42°15′47″N 71°3′49″W / 42.26306°N 71.06361°W |
| Built | 1833 |
| Architect | Isaiah Rogers |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000651 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | November 13, 1966 |
The Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House, also known as the R. B. Forbes House and Forbes House Museum (and formerly as the American China Trade Museum), is a house museum located at 215 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts. It is now a National Historic Landmark, and is open to the public.
This house tells the story of an American entrepreneurial family involved in the China Trade in the mid to late 1800s. The house was built in 1833 for their mother, Margaret Perkins, by Captain Robert Bennet Forbes, John Murray Forbes, and their sisters. It was designed in an unusual Greek Revival style by Boston architect Isaiah Rogers and is now one of two surviving examples of Rogers' early domestic work. Rogers and Forbes collaborated on the design, which included nautical elements. Its interior retains many original features including an elliptical staircase (resembling those of lighthouses) rising through three stories, leading to a cupola from which ships arriving at Boston Harbor could be seen. It has walls 18 inches (46 cm) thick which were originally sheathed with shiplap siding. A partial upper floor was originally illuminated by porthole windows; this was altered in the 1880s, when the roof was raised and sash windows were installed. The interior has been little altered, primarily by the addition of 20th century conveniences including plumbing and electricity. Interior additions (1872) include tiled fireplace surrounds in the High Victorian Gothic style.
The house was used by the Forbes family until 1962, and opened as a museum in 1965. Today it is furnished with the family's furniture, art, and American, European, and Old China Trade heirlooms. The museum also contains a large collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia collected by Captain Forbes's granddaughter, Mary Bowditch Forbes, together with a replica of Lincoln's birthplace cabin on the grounds.
After four generations of the family lived here up until 1962, the museum was opened in 1964 by a descendant, H.A. Crosby Forbes, to celebrate the history of the Forbes family and the legacy of the China Trade.
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