Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home

The oldest building in the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant in Washington, D.C. was originally known as Ingleside Estate (after the land tracts on which it was built) or Walbridge Estate (after the family who were likely its first inhabitants). Its grandiloquent architectural design often inspires double takes by passers-by who know it by its current name and function - Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home.

Built in 1851 by famed architect Thomas Ustick Walter, the man who designed the U.S. Capitol dome and wings, this ornate, Italian Villa-style residence was initially constructed for T.B.A. Hewlings, then conveyed to General Hiram Walbridge in 1854. The Walbridge family inhabited the estate through 1890, sharing it during a short stint in 1887 as the temporary home of the Washington City Orphan Asylum.

The house was sold to Chapin Brown in 1890, whose father Samuel is credited with providing the name for the surrounding neighborhood, Mount Pleasant. Brown sold the property to Charles H. Bauman who then sold it to Frank B. Noyes, treasurer and editor of The Evening Star newspaper, in 1906. Noyes would later become president of The Evening Star and The Associated Press. He hired architect W.J. Marsh to make significant changes to the house, chiefly the orientation of the entrance to face north rather than south, with its main entrance facing Howard St. (present-day Newton St.)

The house changed hands two more times before being sold to the Presbyterian Home for the Aged in 1917. Additions were made to the home in 1927 and 1938 to account for necessary expansions. After 41 years, the Presbyterian Home moved to a larger facility and sold the house and property to Stoddard Baptist Home in 1961.

In 1983, just four years after having been designated as a Landmark of the National Capital in 1979, the property was severely damaged by a fire. Reconstruction began shortly after the fire, with historic details being restored through the use of archival photographs. New additions were built to replace the additions that had previously been made to the western side of the house, and after construction was completed, the mansion became the administrative center with the new addition housing the residents.