Corcoran Gallery of Art
- Architect
- Ernest Flagg
- Year
- 1869
- City
- Washington, DC
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corcoran as one of the earliest public art museums in the United States, moving into this Beaux-Arts building on New York Avenue, designed by Ernest Flagg, when it opened in 1897. The gallery built an important collection concentrated in American art and ran its own art school from 1890 until a prolonged financial shortfall forced its closure in 2014.
the building
The Ellipse-facing building. The Flagg-designed building stands near the Ellipse and was the gallery's home from 1897 until its 2014 closure, when the structure passed to George Washington University along with the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.
the style
Flagg gave the gallery a Beaux-Arts design, a style suited to a public art museum's ambitions when it opened on the Ellipse in 1897.
significance
Founded in 1869, the Corcoran was one of the earliest public art museums in the United States and is designated a National Historic Landmark, DC Historic Landmark, and National Register property. Unable to sustain its finances, the gallery closed in October 2014; under its founding charter, its building and art school passed to George Washington University, and its 19,456-work collection was distributed to other institutions, chiefly the National Gallery of Art and the American University Museum.
nearby
- American National Red Cross
- Octagon House (John Tayloe House)
- U.S. Civil Service Commission Building
- Winder Building
- Eisenhower Executive Office Building
- Constitution Hall