Hofje Codde en Van Beresteijn

The Hofje van Codde en Beresteyn is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands. The current building is from 1968 and is located on the J. Cuyperstraat, which is named for the architect who designed the Cathedral of Saint Bavo next door, Joseph Cuypers. This hofje is the wealthiest hofje foundation in Haarlem with the most modern facilities for its inhabitants. Poor (devote) Catholic women of Haarlem 60 years and older are still welcome to live there for free.

The modern-day Hofje van Codde en Berestijn was built in 1968 on land next to the Cathedral of Saint Bavo, because the original donator, Pieter Jansz Codde, was Catholic and built his hofje next to the former cathedral in Haarlem, the Sint-Bavokerk on the Grote markt in the center of town. This location is the second move that the hofje made in its history spanning four centuries.

The Haarlem archives still keep the will and testament of the original donor, where it states that Mr. Pieter Jansz Codde, curate of the (old) Sint-Bavokerk, Grote markt, wrote in 1598 that from the proceeds of his will, four rooms ('‘camerkens’') should be founded “Hofkenswijs” (in the Hofjes way) for poor elderly women. The resulting hofje was built by his executor Hendrick Spoorwater in 1609 on the Nauwe Damsteeg, next to the newly founded underground Catholic church Franciscusstatie (which itself later relocated to the Donkere Spaarne and was called de Vier Heemskinderen). It was the same year that the new poor men's almshouse Oudemannenhuis was completed (now housing the Frans Hals Museum). These two events were related. The Franciscan monks or minnebroers had lost their former monastery in 1581 when the city had reclaimed that land (and the church located there) to replace the St. Elisabeth Gasthuis formerly located on the Grote Houtstraat and which burned in the fire of 1576. These monks were put out on the street, but with local support from underground Catholic parishes, they found a place to stay in the Damsteeg, and many also fled south. Prior to the fall of Haarlem to the Protestant republic in 1577 after the four-year Spanish occupation, many Haarlem hofjes were in some way physically connected to a specific church. This can still be seen in the case of the Lutherse hofje, which has its rooms built up against the church building. In the same way, the original Hofje van Codde was originally attached to the Franciscusstatie. During the course of years it became known as the Spoorwater hofje, because the executor of the Codde testament lived in a much grander house on the corner of the Jansstraat, which housed the regent's room for the hofje.

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