3-011-893 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

New Almshouses at Watford erected by the Salters' Company of London, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. F. Downer. 'The original premises were burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666... [The rebuilt almshouses] had become so dilapidated as to require reconstruction...The new almshouses...have been erected at a cost of £8000, exclusive of the expense of the site and adjacent grounds, in a pleasant part of Watford, about ten minutes' walk from the railway station. The buildings present three sides of a square, or a centre and two wings, the principal portion resting on a raised terrace. The interiors are planned with careful regard to sanitary considerations and the domestic accommodation of the inmates - the almswomen from Monkwell-street, and almsmen from Salters'-rents, Bow-lane. The architect is Mr. John Collier, of Putney; and the builder Mr. King, of Shefford, Bedfordshire. The grounds are tastefully laid out for the recreation of the almsfolk; and the judgment displayed by the company in providing "so many happy ports and havens" for such of their brethren as may become poor in advanced age, or their widows, is highly honourable to the worthy Salters, who may henceforth wreathe their loving-cup with memories of the Watford refuge'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.