Frederica (Berwind) Porter (1884-1954)

She grew up with her uncle Edward Berwind at The Elms in Newport. She was living in Paris as the widow of Col. H. Herman Harjes (d.1926) when she bought 16 Rue Faisanderie (see images), a few doors down from her husband's old home. It was later named for her second husband as the Hôtel Seton Porter. It became a centre for the most fashionable members of the American Colony in Paris, and she employed a staff of twenty to maintain it. During World War II - just as Harjes had done in World War I - she played a key role with the American Red Cross volunteers. She transformed her mansion into an annex of the American Hospital (co-founded by Harjes and his father back in 1906). When she returned to the United States at the end of the war, her mansion in Paris was left abandoned. It was eventually purchased in 1950 by Gaston-Louis Vuitton on behalf of the Union des Fabricants. It has since been then the headquarters of the UNIFAB association and is now better known as the Museum of Counterfeiting.