{"nrhp_refnum":"71000160","name":"Banning House","other_names":["The Gen. Phineas Banning Residence"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 E. M St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wilmington","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":33.79030130600006,"lon":-118.25818356629512,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The General Phineas Banning Residence is a Greek Revival wood-frame house built in 1864 at 401 East M Street in Wilmington, Los Angeles, California. It sits in a 20-acre park and now operates as a museum managed by the City of Los Angeles.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Phineas Banning, who founded Wilmington and developed the Los Angeles harbor, freight and transportation links, and rail connections. He was also a prominent Union supporter in Southern California during the Civil War. The house was the largest and most impressive structure built in the harbor district, and it remains relatively unaltered, with its Greek Revival design reflecting Banning's national outlook.","narrative":"Built in 1864 on the edge of Wilmington, California, the General Phineas Banning Residence is a wood-frame Greek Revival house of three and a half stories topped by a cupola. It has a raised brick foundation, a two-story balconied porch with Roman Doric columns, and a ballroom in the basement. It was built for Banning, who founded the town and helped create the Los Angeles harbor, ran freight and stage lines, and pushed for railroad links. He was a vocal Union supporter during the Civil War and was appointed a brigadier general in the state militia. The house was the largest and most impressive structure in the harbor district, and its style tied frontier California to national ideals. Later changes were made by the Banning family and are themselves considered historic. Since 1927 the city has managed the house and its 20 acres of parkland as a museum, with a coach house also counted as historic.","period_of_significance":"1864-1885","architect_builder":"Unknown (built by General Phineas Banning)","architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century: Greek Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, furnished and open to the public as a museum within Banning Park; a coach house is also contributing, with six non-contributing park buildings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.767293-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/71000160.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000160/eab9143d6b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000160/eab9143d6b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Los Angeles","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banning_House,_Wilmington,_California.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles</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:Banning_House,_Wilmington,_California.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858943","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banning_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q806890"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/banning-house-71000160/"}