Sitting Room

One of the five original rooms to the house, the upstairs sitting room was the bedroom for Maggie Walker’s mother, Elizabeth Mitchell, until she passed away in 1922. After Mitchell’s death, the family converted the room to another office space for Mrs. Walker. As the Leigh Street home sat between the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank to the south and the St. Luke Hall to the north, the home office served as a convenient locale for Walker to hold meetings with St. Luke officers and bank partners. A small kitchenette off the northeast corner of the room was added when Mrs. Walker’s diabetes restricted her mobility.

Resting on the mantle above the room’s radio cabinet is a small portrait of Franklin Roosevelt.  Mrs. Walker greatly admired the much-beloved president for his progressive civil rights politics and banking reform measures.