Teylers Hofje

In Teylers's day, most visitors to the city of Haarlem from Amsterdam would travel by trekschuit along the 'Stadsbuiten' canal (now the Papentorenvest street) joining the Spaarne just north of this hofje.

His museum, which is located in the back garden of his house, competed with the Dutch Society of Science for scientific research.

It would have been Teyler's express wish to have his hofje located on the Spaarne, in the same way that the executors of his will defining the Teyler's Museum chose later to build a new front entrance facing the Spaarne and leading visitors to the side entrance of the 'oval room'.

The hall of the Diocese, which was used for meetings of the 'Economical branch of the Dutch Society for Science', would have impressed Teyler.

This hofje was built by the popular contemporary architect Leendert Viervant, who designed several other neo-classical objects in the 1780s in Haarlem.

Teylers Hofje - view from the garden back towards the gate.
Teylers Hofje, as seen from inside the main gate during the spring.
Imposing gate overlooking the Spaarne river.
The hofje currently known as the Vrouwe- en Antonie Gasthuis on the Klein Heiligland behind the Frans Hals Museum , was originally built by Pieter Joosten Boogaert as a Mennonite hofje in ca. 1620. Teyler bought it several generations later in 1752 from the Mennonite Coymans.