in 1916, a building was purchased on the southwest corner of north charles and west biddle streets as a possible location for the museum. although an architect was employed to remodel it, it was never occupied. by 1915 the group had decided to permanently house the museum in the wyman park area, west of the then named peabody heights (later charles village) neighborhood. by 1917, the group had received a promise from johns hopkins university for the land further south of the new georgian revival architecture-federal styled campus they were in the process of moving to. this prospective plot was near the old homewood mansion of 1800 and the later italianate style mansion of "wyman villa" of a hopkins donor and trustee, william wyman, which would see them leave their downtown site at north howard street and west centre, which they had occupied since 1876.