Korédé House wants to be a home away from home for women and mothers

In the Central West End, Ronke Faleti has created a place where women can socialize or find solace, work remotely or relax, and, particularly helpful for mothers, offload some chores like childcare and laundry.

As I’m pulling up to her brick house in the Central West End, Ronke Faleti texts me that it’s fine to park in the driveway. She greets me in the foyer of the old home—it dates to 1895—and, showing me to the kitchen, begins heating the water for tea. Tea bags steeping in our cups, we settle in on a brown leather sofa in the adjoining hearth room for a chat. It’s exactly the way a hangout with two friends might begin, but Faleti and I have never met before. This warm feeling of welcoming is exactly what she’s trying to cultivate at the space I’m visiting today: the newly opened Korédé House (4317 Forest Park), Faleti’s former home, which she has re-envisioned as a “third space” for women. A third space, a term that was coined by sociologists in the early ’80s, is a place that’s not a primary residence or an office, but rather a place where people in a community can gather, interact, and escape the stress of home and work life. Faleti has curated hers to be a place where women, who pay for either memberships or a day pass, can socialize or find solace, work remotely or relax, and, particularly helpful for mothers, offload some chores like childcare and laundry. Read more here.