The French Hospital was built in the 1860s in the style of a French-Flemish chateau, designed by Robert Lewis Roumieu.
The area just south of Well Street features social housing such as the Kingshold and Shore Estates.
The house survived into the 18th century, but by then it was in decline and the tenants included chimney sweeps.
[3] A second almshouse was founded in 1857 in memory of South Hackney's first rector, Henry Handley Norris (1771–1850).
Norris was a leading member of the Hackney Phalanx, a group of early nineteenth-century Anglican High Churchmen.