{"nrhp_refnum":"66000651","name":"Captain R. B. Forbes House","other_names":["American China Trade Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"215 Adams St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Milton","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.26461944400006,"lon":-71.06514179199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-11-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1966-11-13","areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival house at 215 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts, built in 1833 for Captain Robert Bennet Forbes and his family from plans by Boston architect Isaiah Rogers. It now serves as a museum of the American China trade.","why_significant":"The house recalls the career of Robert Bennet Forbes, one of Boston's leading China merchants, and the Boston China trade that was a mainstay of 19th-century American shipping. A reviewer noted that the designation highlights the China trade as a formative economic, political and social episode, with the house as a relatively unspoiled setting. It is also described as a prime example of Greek Revival style with nautical and Chinese-inspired touches.","narrative":"Perched on a turf terrace at the summit of Milton Hill, this Greek Revival house was built in 1833 for the family of Captain Robert Bennet Forbes, a leading Boston China merchant. Isaiah Rogers supplied the plans, and Forbes took a personal hand in the design, leaving nautical touches such as porthole windows, a lighthouse-style circular staircase and an octagonal cupola from which his mother and sister could watch ships in Boston Harbor. The walls are solid brick, 18 inches thick, and the timbers were pre-cut in Maine and hauled up the hill by ox team. In 1882-83 the firm Peabody and Stearns raised the roof, replaced the portholes with sash windows and added a rear ell. The house was meant as a memorial to Forbes's elder brother, who drowned off Macao in 1829. It remained in the family until 1961 and now operates as a museum of the American China trade, whose history it vividly recalls.","period_of_significance":"1833","architect_builder":"Isaiah Rogers (Boston architect); built by Captain Robert Bennet Forbes","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and operated as a museum of the American China trade by a board of trustees; the form lists its condition as occupied museum use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.294118-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/7938/63793801/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000651_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000651/5225f2a960-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000651/5225f2a960-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_B_Forbes_House_Milton_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_B_Forbes_House_Milton_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"95000698","name":"Milton Hill Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/milton-hill-historic-district-95000698/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793801","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Robert_Bennet_Forbes_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5036782"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/captain-r-b-forbes-house-66000651/"}