An almshouse is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms of previous employment, or their widows, and at elderly people who could no longer pay rent, and are generally maintained by a charity or the trustees of a bequest. Almshouses were originally formed as extensions of the church system and were later adapted by local officials and authorities.
A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy.
Taunton State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located on Hodges Avenue in Taunton, Massachusetts. Established in 1854, it was originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton. It was the second state asylum in Massachusetts. Most of the original part of the facility was built in a unique and rare neo-classical style designed by architects Boyden & Ball. It is also a Kirkbride Plan hospital and is located on a large 154-acre (62 ha) farm along the Mill River.
The Blockley Almshouse, later known as Philadelphia General Hospital, was a charity hospital and poorhouse located in West Philadelphia. It originally opened in 1732/33 in a different part of the city as the Philadelphia Almshouse. Philadelphia General Hospital closed in 1977.
The Middletown Alms House is a historic building at 53 Warwick Street in Middletown, Connecticut, constructed in 1813–1814. It was originally used as a poorhouse and is the oldest surviving building built for housing the poor in Connecticut, as well as one of the oldest such in the United States. One of the largest structures of the Federal period in Middletown, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Greene County Almshouse is a historic poorhouse located in Greene County, Illinois, along a township road northeast of the city of Carrollton. The almshouse was built in 1870 in accordance with an 1839 state law which provided for each county to establish its own almshouse or poor farm for welfare recipients. Prior to passage of the law, public welfare in Illinois had taken the form of "outdoor relief", in which the poor worked on farms in exchange for basic support. Under Illinois' county almshouse system, the poor were intended to receive shelter and necessities in the houses, often in exchange for farm labor on the property. By 1903, all but two of Illinois' counties had established an almshouse or poor farm.
The Jacob Bromwell House is a historic residence in the city of Wyoming, Ohio, United States. An Italianate house constructed in the late nineteenth century, it was originally the home of a U.S. Representative, and it has been designated a historic site.
Allen House, also known historically as The Terraces, is an historic house at 2 Solomont Way on the South Campus of the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Lowell, Massachusetts. Built about 1854, it is one of the city's finest early examples of Italianate architecture. In the early 20th century, it was the home of Charles Herbert Allen, a prominent local politician. Since 1957, it has been owned by the University of Massachusetts Lowell; restored in the 2000s, it houses a gallery and event space used for university programs and is home to the university's Honors College. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Old Colony Railroad Station is an historic Italianate train station located off Dean Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The historic station, also known as Dean Street, is proposed to be joined by the modern Taunton station around 2030 as part of Phase 2 of the South Coast Rail project.
The Coram Shipyard Historic District is a historic district encompassing a colonial-era shipyard at 2120, 2125, and 2130 Water Street in Dighton, Massachusetts. The district includes two houses, built c. 1700, and the archaeologically sensitive site of a shipyard which operated for a roughly five-year period between 1698 and 1703. The shipyard site is now home to the Taunton River Yacht Club, whose property includes the wharf built by Thomas Coram and John Hathaway, the proprietors of the shipyard. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The Henry G. Brownell House was a historic house located at 119 High Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. Built in 1893, it was a high quality local example of Georgian Colonial Revival architecture. For many years it was home to the local Elks Lodge, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 for its architecture. It was demolished in 2014.
The Fairbanks-Williams House is a historic house located at 19 Elm Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. Built in 1852, it is the city's only known residential work by the architect Richard Upjohn, and is a fine example of Italianate architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Leonard School is a historic school building at 356 West Britannia Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. It is a two-story brick structure, with a hip roof and a projecting front section that is topped by a truncated tower. A large gable in front of this tower is filled by a large half-round window. An enclosed gable-roof porch shelters the main entrance. Built in 1888 in the Italianate style, it is one of several local schools designed by Gustavus L. Smith. It is named after the locally prominent Leonard family, who were leaders in the city's industrial development.
The Town Farm, now the Easthampton Lodging House, is a historic poor farm at 75 Oliver Street in Easthampton, Massachusetts. It was established in 1890 as an inexpensive way to provide for the town's indigent population, and is the only locally run facility of its type to survive in the state. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The Multnomah County Poor Farm is a former poor farm located in Troutdale, Oregon, United States. Established in 1911, the building and its surrounding grounds operated as a poor farm housing the ill and indigent populations in the Portland metropolitan area at the beginning of the twentieth century, after the closure of a poor farm in the city's West Hills. Over the course of the century, the farm would come to be used as a nursing home before becoming abandoned in the 1980s.
Culver Historic District is a national historic district located at Evansville, Indiana. The neighborhood is all residential, and unlike most of the rest of the city, the lots are not laid out on a grid. Most of the houses are on a lot previously part of the farm owned by Robert Parrett, a native of England who settled in Evansville and built a house near the intersection of Madison Avenue and Parrett Street. Eventually Robert Parrett would become the first Methodist minister in Evansville and helped found Trinity Methodist church, which he served until his death in 1860. His heirs divided up the plat in 1863.
The John Fuller House is a historic house at 463 Halladay Avenue in Suffield, Connecticut. Built in 1824, it was the main house for Suffield's town farm, its facility for supporting the poor and needy, between 1887 and 1952. It is a well-preserved example of Georgian architecture, then long out of fashion. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Joseph Everett Chandler was an American architect. He is considered a major proponent of the Colonial Revival architecture.
The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge, located in Fergus, Ontario, is the oldest surviving state-supported poorhouse in Canada. Constructed in 1877, the site operated as a poorhouse and farm until 1947, and as an old age home until 1971. In the 1980s, the building was repurposed to house the Wellington County Museum and Archives. The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995 based on its illustration of 19th century attitudes towards poverty and the origins of Canada's social safety net.
The Malden City Infirmary is a historic municipal facility at 341 Forest Street in Malden, Massachusetts. Established by the city in the 18th century as a poor farm, the surviving elements of the property include the 1870 Warden's House, and the 1933 infirmary, which continues to serve as an elderly care and nursing facility known as Forestdale Senior Living. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
