Ellarslie, an Italianate villa, was built for Henry McCall Sr. of Philadelphia as a summer residence in 1848. It is owned by The City of Trenton. The designer of the Ellarslie was John Notman, the architect who designed the first Italianate building in America (Burlington, NJ) and the first Renaissance Revival building, the Athenaeum in Philadelphia. The museum contains art galleries with changing exhibits. Located on the second floor of the Museum is a permanent collection of fine and decorative arts, cultural history, and industrial artifacts, nearly all of which were manufactured in Trenton.