Located for most of its history in the Erdington area of Birmingham, England, the college was originally independent but came under the control of Staffordshire education department in 1955 as part of a financial rescue deal.

Bergman-Österberg's strict regime for her students included isolation and cold baths, and upon leaving in 1895 Anstey set up a health farm called The Hygienic Home for Ladies at South Petherton, Somerset.

In 1897 she moved to The Leasowes, Halesowen, Worcestershire, and wrote to her former instructor, Bergman-Österberg, requesting that the latter accept Sophie Knight, Anstey's assistant at the health farm in Somerset, as a student at a reduced fee.

Rhoda Anstey stepped down as principal in 1927, after having partially retired in 1920, though she remained a co-director until 1930, in which year the college gained the approval of the University of London to grant accredited diplomas.

The old college building was sold off and subsequently demolished to make way for a housing development, and the Anstey School at the polytechnic ceased to exist as a separate body in 1984.