Corcoran Gallery of Art
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Corcoran Gallery of Art
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| Location | 17th St. at New York Ave., NW Washington, D.C. |
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| Coordinates | 38°53′45″N 77°02′24″W / 38.89578°N 77.039899°WCoordinates: 38°53′45″N 77°02′24″W / 38.89578°N 77.039899°W |
| Architect | Ernest Flagg |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000997 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | April 27, 1992 |
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C. Prior to its closing, it was one of the oldest privately supported cultural institutions in the United States capital. Starting in 1890, a museum school, later known as the Corcoran College of Art + Design, co-existed with the gallery. The museum's main focus was American art. In 2014, after decades of financial problems, the Corcoran entered into an agreement with the National Gallery of Art (NGA) and the George Washington University whereby almost all of the gallery's 17,000 work collection was placed under the care of the NGA, while the school and historic 17th street gallery building continued operations as a part of the George Washington University's new Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.
When the gallery was founded in 1869 by William Wilson Corcoran, the co-founder of Riggs Bank, it was one of the first fine art galleries in the country. Corcoran established the gallery, supported with an endowment, "for the perpetual establishment and encouragement of the Fine Arts." While an independent institution, the Corcoran was the oldest and largest non-federal art museum in the District of Columbia. Its mission was "dedicated to art and used solely for the purpose of encouraging the American genius."
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was originally located at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, in the building that now houses the Renwick Gallery. Construction of that building started before the Civil War. The building, near completion, was used by the government as a warehouse during the Civil War. It was finally completed in 1874 and the gallery opened to the public.
By 1897, the Corcoran Gallery collection outgrew the space of its original building. A new building was constructed, designed by Ernest Flagg in a Beaux-Arts style. The 135,000 square feet (12,500 m²) building was built to house an expanded Corcoran collection in addition to the nascent school, which had been formally founded in 1890.
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