The building is known to predate 1891, in which year it was photographed by William Walter Augustine Fitzgerald from the deck of the Henry Wright: a coastal steamer belonging the Imperial British East Africa Company.

[4] As is clear from Fitzgerald's photograph, the house then directly fronted the beach, but land reclamation means it now stands further back.

On Friday 31 August 1894 Bell Smith was shot whilst smoking on the verandah in the evening, and died the following day.

[9][10] The purchase was funded from a grant recently made to the Marine Fisheries Department, and at the cost of surrendering an antique door then in the house, which was the price of overlooking Allfree's unorthodox arrangements to acquire the building.

The building was used by Range Management/ Livestock Development officers for some years until Leakey agreed that it should be handed over to the National Museums of Kenya.

These are: the Vasco da Gama Pillar, the Portuguese Chapel, the House of Columns and the Heritage Complex museum.