Homewood Campus Tour

Homewood Museum

Homewood Museum was constructed between 1801-03 by Charles Carroll, Jr., the son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the richest men in America. In 1800, the elder Carroll, as a wedding present, presented his son with a 130-acre tract, referred to as Homewood Farm, and offered to pay for the construction of a house. The architect is unknown, but it is believed that the house was designed by Carroll himself, with the assistance of his builders, William and Robert Edwards. Constant design changes and a desire to furnish the house in the most elegant manner possible led the younger Carroll to spend the then-extravagant sum of $40,000, four times what his father had expected. Carroll, Sr., paid the bills, although he often threatened not to, and for a few years the young couple lived happily, entertaining brilliantly and raising a family.

The younger Carroll, who became known as Charles Carroll of Homewood, succumbed to alcoholism, though, and in 1816 his wife returned to her family in Philadelphia, taking their five children with her. He lived in the house until his death in 1825, when Homewood was inherited by his son, also named Charles. Charles Carroll III lived at Homewood from 1825-33, when he inherited a much larger estate of his grandfather, Doughoregan Manor in Howard County. In 1839, he sold Homewood for $25,000 to Samuel Wyman, a Boston native who had become a successful merchant in Baltimore. Wyman lived in the house for about a dozen years, until 1853, when his son William built the nearby Homewood Villa, which became the family residence. (The Homewood Villa, built in 1853, no longer stands. It was torn down in May 1955.)

Homewood Museum stood vacant until 1897, when it was rented to the Country Day School (later the Gilman School) for $1,000 a year. Although the house and its surrounding land were given to the University in 1902, the school remained until 1910. The building then went unused until 1916, when it was occupied by the Johns Hopkins Club.

The Club remained until 1929, when the University received funds from Mr. and Mrs. Francis P. Garvan to renovate the house and convert it into a museum to display their collection of antique furniture. The restoration was finished in 1932, but the museum did not last long. Faced with overcrowding in Remsen Hall, the University moved the Offices of the President, Provost, and Secretary into the west wing of the building in 1936. During the Second World War, the need for space became so great that the museum was closed, and the entire building was devoted to office space. In 1973, Robert G. Merrick, a University trustee, donated funds to restore the building as a museum. As a graduate student in the 1920s, Merrick had rented a room in the house from the Johns Hopkins Club, and he retained a lifelong interest in the structure.

During the University's centennial celebration in 1976, Homewood Museum was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark. In 1982, after alternate space had been found for the offices that had been in the building, an extensive restoration project was begun under the direction of the architectural firm of Mendel, Mesick, Cohen, Waite, and Hall with the aim of recreating Homewood's early-nineteenth-century appearance. In September 1987, the Homewood Museum was opened to the public.

Evergreen Museum & Library

Evergreen Museum & Library, located at 4545 North Charles Street (nearby but not on the Homewood campus), was built in the 1850s by the Broadbent family, in what was then Baltimore County. In 1878, T. Harrison Garrett, the son of railroad magnate and original Hopkins trustee John Work Garrett, bought and enlarged the house, which then passed to his son, also named John Work Garrett. A career member of the diplomatic corps, J.W. Garrett served in embassies in Holland, Germany, Venezuela, and Argentina and was appointed ambassador to Italy by President Herbert Hoover in 1929. He also served as a Hopkins trustee from 1937 to 1940 and donated the house to the University in 1942, along with his extensive collections of art, coins, rare books, and stamps. His wife, Alice W. Garrett, was also a connoisseur and patron of a number of modern artists, including Picasso and Dufy, whose works can be found at Evergreen. Her private theater was decorated by Leon Bakst, designer for the Ballets Russes under Diaghilev. The building was completely renovated between 1988-90, and the University now uses Evergreen Museum & Library for special events and conferences. It is also open to the public for tours, and available for rental for weddings and other events.

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