Destitute Asylum – Schoolroom

The surviving remains of the former Destitute Asylum complex include the Chapel, Schoolroom and Lying in hospital that are now incorporated in the Migration Museum accessed from Kintore Avenue.

The Destitute Asylum dates from 1851, with extensions in 1853, 1863, 1865 and 1875.  It operated until 1926, providing financial assistance and temporary accommodation.  The buildings were restored in the 1980’s.

The Chapel, with its Tudor feeling and little fle’che was erected in 1865 as a schoolroom for the children of soldiers in English regiments whose barracks were adjacent. After 1870 it became the Chapel for the Destitute Asylum. The building to its east was built in 1861 as a school­room for the same group of children, but later it was debased by being used as a laundry for the Destitute Asylum. It was probably designed by E. A. Hamilton.  The Lying In Hospital, the largest of the three buildings, a two story bluestone building constructed in 1877-78 that forms a wall to Kintore Avenue, now houses museum displays and administrative offices.