Group    From 1695 

Aske's Hospital

Categories: Education, Social Welfare

About the building, from Shoreditch College: "The first building on {this site} was Aske's Hospital or the Haberdashers' Alms Houses, erected 1690-93 to designs of Robert Hooke ... for the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, who were left a legacy of £30,000 by a member, Robert Aske, to provide a building for the accommodation of twenty "decayed members" of the Company. .... {drawing held by the V&A} according to James Elmes (Metropolitan Improvements 1828), it was very spacious, being four hundred feet long, with an ambulatory in front stretching some three hundred and forty feet under a colonnade. ... Hooke's building was pulled down and rebuilt by the Haberdashers' Company between 1825 and 1826. The new building, much smaller than the original, is a good example of the Greek taste in Regency architecture. It is distinguished by its fine central Doric portico flanked by plain stock brick wings. The architect, D.R. Roper (c.1773-1855), had made a name for himself as a surveyor in his valuations of property in connection with the formation of Regent Street. Elmes ... was critical of Roper's portico "with its frieze emasculated of its many triglyphs, and a substitution of hybrid wreaths," but he generally approved of "the present neat structure"."

The hospital (almshouses and school) was built to house twenty freemen and twenty sons of freemen of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. Rebuilt 1826. In 1873-5 the almshouses were redeveloped to provide more space for the school. 1898 the school moved away: girls to Acton and boys to Cricklewood.

In 1907 Shoreditch College moved in and became Shoreditch Technical Institute and then Shoreditch Training College. It moved to Coopers Hill in 1951. An off-shoot of the Institute, the London College of Furniture, started here in 1964 and then moved to Commercial Road as part of London Guildhall University.

Note the statue on the lawn shown in the 1828 image. This is probably the one moved to Hatcham in 1908. We've found two other almshouse statues that have moved - see Dick Whittington.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Aske's Hospital

Commemorated ati

Aske's Hospital - left - 1828

Note that the plaque says that not only was a new building erected but also t...

Read More

Aske's Hospital - right - 1875

This plaque summarises the history of the Hospital and celebrates the opening...

Read More

Other Subjects

E. A. Jay

E. A. Jay

Associated with the Wesleyan Schools, Leswin Road, 1883. In particular, the choir.

Person, Education, Music / songs

1 memorial
Sacred Heart School, Hammersmith

Sacred Heart School, Hammersmith

The origins of the school date back to a nunnery in 1609. In 1869, Cardinal Manning decided to convert it into a seminary, and had John Francis Bentley (the architect of Westminster Cathedral) draw...

Building, Children, Education

1 memorial
Craft School - Globe Road

Craft School - Globe Road

We have found some very interesting information about this School. It grew out of the Ring and Rose Club. The architect F. W. Troup was art adviser and governor. It was closely associated with the ...

Group, Craft / Design, Education

1 memorial
Dulwich College

Dulwich College

Founded by Edward Alleyn as a school and almshouses. A chapel, a schoolhouse and twelve almshouses were built on Dulwich Green (see picture), and, extended and re-modelled, these buildings remain a...

Building, Education, Social Welfare

3 memorials
Charity scholars

Charity scholars

Looking at London has a page about these little blue people but even there we can find no origin story explaining why and when the first such statues were erected. We note that there seems to be a ...

Group, Education, Philanthropy

23 memorials

Previously viewed

Queen Charlotte

Queen Charlotte

WC1, Queen Square

This square, the site of an ancient reservoir, was set out in 1716 on land owned by Sir Nathaniel Curzon and originally known as Devonshi...

3 subjects commemorated