Through the centuries

It is almost a miracle that, after more than five hundred years, the Netherlands still has some two hundred hofjes, most of them in the provinces of North and South Holland.

Leiden and the oldest hofjes

Most of Leiden’s hofjes date from the seventeenth century, thanks to the enormous growth of the textile industry. The oldest Dutch hofje is in Haarlem and dates from 1395; the oldest in Leiden is the Jeruzalemhof on the Kaiserstraat, founded in 1467.

An existence under threat

Over the centuries the survival of the hofjes was often in serious doubt. After the French period, the financial reserves of the Dutch hofjes had shrunk sharply because of the extra tax on interest income that Napoleon had introduced in 1810.

The greatest threat came in the twentieth century. Around 1900 Leiden’s hofjes were in a deplorable state. The Housing Act of 1901 required better facilities — water, electricity, sewerage and a kitchen — and four Leiden hofjes disappeared because there was no money to provide them.

Recovery and restoration

Even so, money was invested step by step: running water in 1920, electricity in 1930, and at the end of the 1930s every house got a toilet. In 1976 a municipal report concluded that many houses no longer met modern standards.

By the 1960s the hofjes had become so neglected — and had such a shabby image — that even during the housing shortage there was little interest in living in them. To keep the houses occupied, some were let to students through the student housing foundation. In those years the demolition of several Leiden hofjes was even considered.

Only when the national government, the province and the city made subsidies available — sometimes up to almost eighty per cent of the restoration costs — could the hofjes be restored. The Jean Pesynhof, too, was thoroughly renovated in 1978 and 1979: central heating, showers, ventilation and kitchens replaced the old box bed.

At the time the Walloon Church still owned two other hofjes, the Pieter Loridanshof and the Jean Michielshof; the proceeds of their sale, less than a hundred thousand guilders, went towards the restoration of the Jean Pesynhof. Both can be found on the walking tour; how the Jean Pesynhof is managed today is described in The hofje today.