3-003-891 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Asylum for the Blind at Brighton, opened on Tuesday, 1861. 'A few years ago Miss Oldham became suddenly blind, and naturally felt much interested in those who were afflicted in the same way, and desired at her decease that a sum of £2000 might be appropriated towards erecting an asylum for the accommodation of blind children...The new building...is designed in the style prevalent in Venice during the fourteenth century...The building will accommodate seventy children...Separate and distinct stone staircases divide the accommodation for the two sexes...The works have been executed by Messrs. Cheesman and Co., of Brighton, under the architect, Mr. G. Somers Clarke, of London. Mr. W . Westhey was clerk of the works, and the carving and sculpture have been carefully executed by Mr. Thomas Earp, of London...The total cost of the new building, including fittings, is about £5000. A sum of £8 per annum is paid by the parents or friends for the maintenance and tuition of each inmate, exclusive of clothing. Their education consists of reading (by touch) on embossed books, geography and arithmetic by the same means (Moon's system), singing and music, which are taught, being read to the pupils from ordinary books'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.