The Hofje van Noblet is a hofje

Hofje

A hofje is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. They have existed since the Middle Ages.A hofje provided housing for elderly people . They were privately funded, and served as a form of social security...

 in Haarlem

Haarlem

Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

History

It was built in 1761 from the legacy of Leonard Noblet and his sisters Sara en Geertruida. The houses in the hofje are built in the garden of the house of the Noblet family, Haerlem en Spaargesigt. The father of Leonard, Elezar Noblet, bought it in 1737. The Noblet family originally came from Amsterdam. Because Leonard, Sara and Geertruida had no legal heirs, they decided to construct a common last will. They wrote that they wanted to found a hofje, and that the governors of the nearby Hofje van Staats

Hofje van Staats

The Hofje van Staats is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands, on the Jansweg 39, close to the Haarlem railway station.-History of the complex:...

 would be the executors of their will.

The hofje was built with 20 houses. Ten for women from Haarlem, on the east-side of the hof, and ten for women from Amsterdam, at the west-side. The women living there had to be at least 50 years old, had to have been single their whole life and had to have been a member of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk, an old name of the Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...

.

A part of the original house of the Noblet family serves as the house of the supervisor of the hofje, another part is the official housing of the governors (regents) of the hofje (who are also the governors of the Hofje van Staats).

The main entrance of the hofje is located on the Nieuwe Gracht overlooking the Spaarne river and there is a back entrance on the Parklaan. When the hofje was built that was not called the Parklaan, but 'Achter Nieuwe Gracht', a canal. The entrance to the old house of the Noblet family is located on the Hooimarkt. An original drawing of the Hofje van Staats

Hofje van Staats

The Hofje van Staats is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands, on the Jansweg 39, close to the Haarlem railway station.-History of the complex:...

, as well as items from that hofje's history, are located in the hall and regent's room of the Hofje van Noblet, whose finances are also managed by the same "Foundation for the preservation of the Hofjes Staats and Noblet".

The hofje was renovated in 1992, when the number of houses was reduced from 20 to 16 to allow for modern living requirements.

Address: Nieuwe Gracht 2