When Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer opened the first Home in 1875, they named it Isabella to honor their daughter, whose death at 27 cut short her remarkable career of caring for the poor.

In 1889, when they built the new Home in its present Washington Heights location, “peace and rest” were the goals of old age. Isabella Home opened its doors to 100 of “the Aged and the Sick, without regard to Creed, Sex, or Nationality.”

Isabella soon became renowned for the quality of its care, and was featured in the United States exhibit of the Paris Expo of 1900, where it won a Silver Medal.

In the decades which followed, Isabella grew in its scope of services, expanding its beautiful Washington Heights campus and adding excellent facilities for senior housing, adult day health care, rehabilitation services, respite care, child care, and a wealth of community programs for northern Manhattan seniors.

Isabella is growing and changing even today, retaining the strength of its vision and tradition as it finds new ways to celebrate and care for the lives of New York’s adults.