Nichols House Museum

Nichols House, a Bulfinch design, was occupied from 1885 to 1960 by slightly wacky spinster, writer and landscape gardener Rose Standish Nichols - the last of her family to live there. In 1961, it became a museum. One of the few Beacon Hill homes still open to the public, it's furnished with sumptuous oriental rugs, Flemish tapestries and American, European and Asian art. The tour offers a fascinating glimpse of how the other half lived in the late 19th century.