The house dates from 1760 and its design is attributed to Peter Harrison, a prominent architect of the period, responsible also for the Touro Synagogue and the Redwood Library, both important early Newport buildings.

Subterranean passages found in the cellar have been traced to a subway leading to the pier where Colonel Malbone moored his fleet.

In 1770, famed painter, Gilbert Stuart painted the portrait of the younger Francis Malbone and his brother Saunders, which now hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

At that time, Colonel Totten was in charge of construction of Fort Adams and was also the senior Army engineer in the northeast.

Two-story pediment mantels adorn the fireplace walls and a broken scroll tops the one in the northwest parlor.