A hospital for sick poor and lying-in women formed part of the Hebra Guemilut Hassadim established in 5425 - 1665 - and was located on this site in front of the burial ground of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, the first cemetery acquired by Jews after their re-settlement in this country.
In 5507 - 1747 - the hospital was established as a separate institution, Beth Holim, and is now used as a home for the aged.
Re-erected to the glory of God.
The Jewish calendar has a different start year (hence the "5425 - 1665") 3,760 years ahead of the more common, Gregorian, calendar.
Site: Spanish and Portuguese Jews Hospital (3 memorials)
E1, Mile End Road, 253, Albert Stern House
Built as a hospital and old people’s home. The facade is in the style of an early 18th century house but it was built 1912-13, by Castello, also the row of cottages behind, both overlooking the Old Velho Sephardic Jewish cemetery. The style of the façade references the time when Jews were readmitted into England. See the Listing statement for more details.
The hospital moved out to Wembley in 1977. 2013: This building is owned by Queen Mary College and used as student accommodation, as is the building immediately to the east, Ifor Evans Place.
It's not clear but we think this building may be the only access route through to the Sephardi Velho (Old) Cemetery (also known as Spanish and Portuguese Jews Cemetery) immediately to the north.
Parks and Gardens has: "The Old Burial Ground lies behind Albert Stern House and is shown as 'Jews Burying Place' on Joel Gascoyne's 1703 map. The cemetery was enclosed by high brick walls on all sides, and a stone tablet on the north wall is inscribed in Portuguese, reading in translation ‘the first stone of this wall was laid on 21 Tamuz or 7 June 1684'. ... Spanish and Portuguese Jews came to this country fleeing from religious persecution and established themselves in Mile End in 1656.
"The Sephardi Velho (Old) Cemetery opened in 1657, the first Jewish cemetery to be established with Oliver Cromwell's approval. The land was formerly part of a garden and orchard. It was extended in 1670 and again in 1684 and eventually closed in 1737 after it was full, when a new cemetery opened nearby, the Sephardi Nuevo (New) Cemetery.... The Beth Holim or Hospital and Old People's Home of Spanish and Portuguese Jews moved here in 1790, with the cemetery used partly as a garden. In 1912 Albert Stern House was built and in 1977 Beth Holim moved to Wembley ...."
