William Wilson Corcoran

William Wilson Corcoran (1798 – 1888) was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector.

Corcoran was born in Georgetown in the District of Columbia, the son of a well-to-do Irish immigrant whom the electors of Georgetown twice chose as mayor. Corcoran studied at Georgetown College and then went into banking. The firm of Corcoran and Riggs prospered, and, in 1854, Corcoran was able to retire with an immense fortune and devote himself to art, good living and philanthropy.

In contrast to many contemporary patrons, Corcoran was not exclusively interested in European works, and he assembled one of the first important collections of American art. By 1859 his pictures and sculpture were overflowing his mansion on Lafayette Square and he hired the foremost architect of the day, H. H. Richardson, to build a picture gallery in the Louis XIII style on Pennsylvania Avenue. Before it was ready, however, the Civil War began, and Corcoran, a Southern sympathizer, left Washington for Paris, where his son-in-law was a representative of the Confederacy.

Back in Washington after the collapse of the South, Corcoran had some trouble reclaiming all his property and in 1869 gave over his gallery building and much of his collection to the government. Opened as the Corcoran Gallery in 1871, the institution remains one of Washington's most important cultural centers. The Gallery moved to a new building, however, in 1897, and the old building is now a museum of architecture.

Corcoran made many other important bequests to the people of Washington, among them the Louise Home for Women and several departments of the Columbian University (now the George Washington University). The bank he co-founded continues to exist as the Riggs Bank.