Hofje van Loo

It was founded in 1489 by Haarlem mayor Symon Pieterszoon van Loo and his wife Godelt Willemsdochter, on the Grebbesteeg 'purely to honor and rest the souls of their parents and themselves' by funding 13 rooms with gardens to be administered by the 'gasthuismeesters' of the St. Elisabeth Gasthuis nearby.

There were many conditions attached to this deal, among them the stipulation that the rooms remain on the Grebbesteeg behind the van Loo house, which was on the Barrevoetsteeg.

The gasthuismeesters should give each member each week one stuiver (5 cents), one or two baskets of turf (used instead of firewood for cooking and heating).

The role of the gatekeeper as recorded by the St. Elisabeth's regents in 1835 had a yearly salary of 11 guilders and her duties were to open and close the gate, turn the streetlight on and off, clean the privy, and send for medicine for sick members.

So instead of the typical U-shape of houses around a garden, one side of the hofje is now located at the street, separated only by a fence.