From their website:

“The house was built around 1820 for businessman Martin Baum and purchased in 1830 by horticulturalist and art patron Nicholas Longworth. Longworth hired Robert S. Duncanson, who later became the first Black American artist to earn an international reputation, to paint eight large landscapes and four smaller still-lifes on the walls of his entry hall. These are now recognized as the most important pre–Civil War domestic murals in the United States.  In 1976, the Taft historic house and the Duncanson murals were designated as National Historic Landmarks. 
  
After Longworth’s residency, David Sinton and his daughter, Anna, occupied the house. Anna married Charles Phelps Taft in 1873, and the couple lived in the house for over fifty years. When Anna inherited her father’s fortune in 1900, she and Charles began collecting art. In 1927, they bequeathed their house and collection of 530 works to the people of Cincinnati. The Taft Museum of Art opened in 1932.”