The Louise Home on Massachusetts Ave between 15th and 16th Streets |
William
W. Corcoran was well known as a philanthropist in early Washington society,
with his name attached to many buildings, banking institutions, and the
Corcoran Gallery of Art. One of his
lesser known institutions, however, shunned publicity following its opening in
1871 as the Louise Home. Named after his
deceased wife and daughter, the Louise Home was founded two years earlier, in
1869, for the comfortable maintenance and support of genteel yet impoverished
ladies.
William Wilson Corcoran was born in Georgetown on December 27, 1798, and during the
long life time was known as a prominent banker, philanthropist, and art
collector. His father, Thomas Corcoran,
came to Georgetown in 1788 and established a leather business there that
quickly became prosperous, and he was twice elected Mayor.
WW Corcoran |
At
the age of 37 in 1835, W.W. Corcoran, as he was known, eloped with Louise
Morris, who was just then age 16. She was
the daughter of Commodore Charles Morris, and died just five years later, in 1840. They had three children: Harriet Louise,
Louise Morris, and Charles Morris. Sadly, only the middle child, Louise Morris
(1838-1867), survived to adulthood. W.W.
Corcoran never remarried.
Corcoran
had entered business at the age of 17, working in dry goods store owned by two
brothers, and opened his own store two years later. In 1828, he took control of large amount of
real estate from his father, and in 1837, established a brokerage firm on
Pennsylvania Avenue at 15th Street. He
was very successful and soon entered into a partnership with George W. Riggs.
The firm of Corcoran and Riggs prospered and in 1845, they purchased the United
States Bank located on 15th Street at New York Avenue, renaming it Riggs
Bank.
In
1854, Corcoran was able to retire with an immense fortune and devote himself to
art and philanthropy. Earlier, in 1848,
Corcoran had purchased 15 acres of land for Oak Hill Cemetery, which overlooks
Rock Creek Park in Georgetown. Corcoran
also established a $10,000 fund administered by the Benevolent Society, to
purchase firewood for the poor in Georgetown.
Interior of the Louise Home |
By
the early 1860s his pictures and sculpture were overflowing his mansion on
Lafayette Square and he hired the foremost architect of the day, James Renwick,
to build a picture gallery in the Second Empire style on Pennsylvania Avenue
and 17th Street. During the
Civil War, however, Corcoran, a Southern sympathizer, left Washington for
Paris, where his new son-in-law, George Eustis Jr., was a representative of the
Confederacy. His wife, Louise Morris
Corcoran, died there in 1867. Returning
to Washington after the war, W. W. Corcoran gave over his gallery building and
much of his collection to the government in 1869. The art gallery opened officially as the
Corcoran Gallery in 1874.
Shortly
after the conclusion of the Civil War, in 1869 Corcoran began to actively pursue
the establishment of a home "for the support and maintenance of a limited
number of gentlewomen, who have been reduced by misfortune" mostly due to
the War. The site Corcoran choose for
the building was the entire city block bounded on the north by Massachusetts
Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets, NW.
Built
at a cost of $200,000 in the popular French Mansard or Second Empire style, the
building officially opened on April 17, 1871.
Occupants were carefully screened, and one lady named Mrs. Anna
Atkinson, was reported to have been waiting with her trucks on the front porch
before the building opened: she remained at the Louise Home until her death in
1907.
During
a death scare in 1879, Corcoran wrote the directors of the Louise Home about
their future selections of occupants, most of whom were Confederate
widows. He wrote:
“The absolute necessity of
selecting…ladies cultured and refined, whose dignified bearing will render them
a desirable acquisition to the home…be chosen from that class of individuals
who have known brighter days and fairer prospects, yet through reverses that
human foresight could not have obviate have been compelled to contend with
adverse circumstances.”
The
Louise Home denounced any form of publicity as vulgar, and with a sizable
endowment from Corcoran himself, did not need to appear in society for
donations for continuing their mission.
Corcoran died on February 24, 1888, but the Home continued to accept
ladies long after his death, with his faithful valet Michael Nolan serving as
the resident doorman.
Decades
later, however, the vast open land surrounding the Home began to attract real
estate developers, and bowing to pressure, the directors sold the property in
1947, moving to the Codman House at Decatur Place and 22 nd Street, NW. The Home itself was razed two years later, in
1949.
The
Louise Home and its dwindling endowment was combined with the Lisner Home in
1976, and the John Dickson Home in 1985, and the Henry and Annie Hurt Home for
the Blind in 1993.
The
Louise, Dickson, and Hurt Homes have preserved their individual and unique
identities, however, and have retained their own endowments and Boards of
Directors. The facility is known today
as the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home and is located at 5425 Western Avenue,
NW.
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