Fanning, Ralph, b. 1889,

This Federal house in the Palladian style was begun about 1820 for Martin Baum (1765-1831), one of Cincinnati's early merchants. Art patron and abolitionist Nicholas Longworth (1782-1863) lived there for more than thirty years. Iron magnate David Sinton (1808-1900), the subsequent owner, bequeathed the house to his daughter Anna Sinton Taft (1852 circa-1931). She and her husband Charles Phelps Taft (1843-1929), older half-brother of President William Howard Taft (1857-1930), assembled the acclaimed art collection displayed in the home. William Howard Taft accepted his party's nomination for president of the United States from the portico of the house in 1903. Bequeathed to the people of Cincinnati in 1927, the home became the Taft Museum of Art and opened to the public in 1932.

Artist and art historian Ralph Fanning was born on Long Island in 1889. A Quaker, Fanning served in France in compassionate non-military service during World War I. In the 1920s, he joined the Ohio State University Art Department, becoming a full professor in 1924. Fanning was a skilled artist, especially when depicting bridges and buildings. He sketched and painted numerous buildings in Columbus and throughout Ohio. In 1950, Fanning became ill and was later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The disease affected his work, but he continued to paint and sketch.