Francis Malbone House
historic house in Rhode Island, United States
The Francis Malbone House is a historic house at 392 Thames Street in Newport, Rhode Island.
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.
In 1975 the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
History
The building was constructed "in 1760 as a private residence for Colonel Francis Malbone (1728 - 1785), who made his fortune as a shipping merchant at a time when Newport Harbor was one of the busiest Harbors in the New World. He is believed to have smuggled merchandise into the house to avoid taxes. Subterranean passages found in the cellar have been traced to a subway leading to the pier where Colonel Malbone moored his fleet. This was a practice common in the Free Port of Newport, and one upon which many Newport fortunes were founded."
The British occupied Newport during the American Revolution "and seized the Malbone Estate. The mansion was used to store looted gold and treasures, leading to its nickname, "the treasure house.""
After the American Revolution, "the mansion was returned to the Malbone family who retained ownership until the early 1830s. After the death of Colonel Malbone in 1785, his son, also named Francis Malbone, who later became United States Senator, owned the estate until his death in 1809. 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."
In the early 1800s, prior to the building of the famous mansions on Bellevue Avenue, the Malbone House was one of the most opulent houses in Newport.
“Francis Malbone House” enters the record as historic house in Rhode Island, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Francis, Malbone and House can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5481836. Authority coordinates are 41.483, -71.315. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1760, 1975, 1728 and 1785.
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This entry incorporates text from “Francis Malbone House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.