Rose Livingston (25.09.1860-18.12.1914) was the youngest daughter of Marx Livingston, who emigrated to America as the young Jewish cattle dealer Mordje (Marx) Löwenstein from Walsdorf near Idstein/Ts., changed his name there and became a multi-millionaire in San Francisco. in 1870 he moved with his family to Frankfurt a. M. and bought the villa at Bockenheimer Landstraße 33. In Ulmenstraße he built the "Livingston's Horse Stable".
Throughout her life, Rose had a close friendship with her governess Minna Noll, called Nelli, a pious and educated woman. It was mainly through her influence that she converted from the Jewish to the Protestant faith. Rose was friends with the painter Wilhelm Steinhausen and his family. She was his patron, gave and arranged commissions and organised exhibitions. The painting of the Lukaskirche was financed by her. She supported social associations, people in special need and artists. Her name is on the donor's plaque of the Städel Picture Gallery.
After the death of her mother and her friend Minna Noll in 1909, Rose Livingston decided to build a home for single old ladies. With the building on the site of the Frankfurter Diakonissenhaus in Cronstettenstrasse, she commissioned the famous architect Bruno Paul, who also built the Villa Herxheimer in Zeppelinstr. 47 for her sister Fanny Herxheimer. She named the home "Nellinistift" after her friend Minna Noll, called Nelli.
Rose Livingston died on 18 December 1914. Inflation in 1923 led to the loss of the foundation's capital. The Nellinistift was contractually taken over by the Frankfurter Diakonissenhaus.
In March 1944, the Nellinistift was almost completely destroyed in a bombing raid. In the post-war period, it was rebuilt as a home for the elderly with an emergency roof, into which dormers were later installed. in 1976, it was extended by an annex.
in 2008/2009, a new nursing home was built to meet today's requirements with 92 places in nine residential groups. The former Nellinistift old people's home was restored to its original form with a hipped roof, folding shutters and divided windows and opened in March 2009 as the headquarters of the Frankfurter Diakonissenhaus and as the mother house of the Diakonissen. The garden and a square between the mother house and the new Nellinistift nursing home for the elderly were newly laid out.
Since March 2009, the Diakonissenhaus has moved into the restored Nellinistift with an annexe containing nurses' flats, a banqueting hall and a prayer room at Cronstettenstraße 57-61.