Hofje van Guurtje de Waal is a

hofje {{inline refs needed, date=May 2012 A hofje (diminutive of 'hof', 'court') is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. Hofjes have existed since the Middle Ages. A hofje provided housing for elderly people (mostly women). ...

in Haarlem,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

History

It was founded in 1616 by Guerte Jansdochter de Wael, daughter of a rich textile trader, for poor women of the

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

faith. She died in 1632. Originally 6 small houses, it was expanded to 8 houses in 1661 when the gateway was built with the family coat of arms. This coat-of-arms is fairly unusual, featuring the Dutch Lion with its head cut off, spouting blood. It has been supposed that this shows anti-orangist political sympathies. Until 1853 governance by female regents was handed down from mother to daughter. From that time on it was governed by the city council and slowly declined. In 1985 the complex was remodelled into 4 modern homes. Since then it is technically no longer a hofje and is managed by a Haarlem house-rental agency. Address: Lange Annastraat 40

References

* Deugd boven geweld, Een geschiedenis van Haarlem, 1245–1995, edited by Gineke van der Ree-Scholtens, 1995, * ''Haarlems hofjes'', Dr. G. H. Kurtz, Schuyt & Co C.V., Haarlem, 1972, * ''Door gangen en poorten naar de hofjes van Haarlem'', L. Peetorn and L. van der Hoek, Stichting Uitgeverij Barabinsk Leiden, 2001, {{Hofjes in Haarlem Hofjes 1616 establishments in the Dutch Republic Rijksmonuments in Haarlem