The Elizabeth Almshouses are a collection of four

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

s on Elizabeth Road,

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

built in 1860 by the architect

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

. The almshouses were paid for by William's father,

Alfred Burges Alfred Burges (1796–1886) was a British civil engineer. He was apprenticed to the civil engineer James Walker, and in turn trained several other engineers including Sir Joseph Bazalgette. Walker and Burges were responsible for railways, bri ...

, in memory of Alfred's wife. The building is listed Grade II.

History and architecture

was a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

who made a considerable fortune through his work with James Walker for their engineering company ''Messrs. Walker and Burges''. In 1860, he commissioned his son, William, to draw up plans for the building of four almshouses in memory of Alfred's wife. The building is two-storeys high and is constructed of red brick. Under a centrally-situated

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

t is a statuette of St Elizabeth of Hungary. The almshouses are a Grade II listed building, described as a "symmetrical design of some richness". Burges intended the almshouses to be occupied by "poor single women, not less than 50 years old, of good reputation". The National Almshouses Association later became responsible for them, and in 1986 they asked for renovations to be carried out. No funds were available, though, and the residents were moved out. In 1992 Worthing Borough Council took over the almshouses and refurbished them. They have since been held in trust by the borough's Housing Committee. The 1970 edition of ''Sussex'', part of '' The Buildings of England'' series, and authored by Ian Nairn and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

, makes no mention of the almshouses, although Nairn, who wrote the West Sussex section, does describe Worthing, recording it as "an exasperating town (that) began by imitating

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and ended by imitating

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

". The revised (2019) guide, ''Sussex:West'', does record the almshouses, although it (incorrectly?) describes William as the "brother of the founder, Alfred Burges of Blackheath (London)".

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Listed Buildings In Worthing Listed buildings in West Sussex Buildings and structures in Worthing William Burges buildings Almshouses in West Sussex