The Widows’ House
The Widows’ House, Nørregade 16, which was erected in 1780, is situated next to the Sisters’ House with entrance towards Nørregade. Here, the widows lived, and they were taken care of by the sisters in the neighbouring Sisters’ House.
The Widows’ House was the last and smallest of the choir houses. The interior of the house was laid out like the interior of the Sisters’ House. It had its own choir leaders and meetings, however less and less often as in the Sisters’ House. The Widows’ House was a kind of pensioners’ accommodation with a strong social network and care. The inmates were self-supporting, but if they became weak or ill, they received assistance and if they needed additional care, they were transferred to the sickroom in the Sisters’ House. A survey from 1799 shows that two thirds of the inmates of the house were missionaries’ widows. However, not all of the inmates belonged to the community.
Today, the Widows’ House contains individual flats and the inmates of the house are both elderly members of the community and tenants from the outside
The architecture of the Widows’ House
The main building of the Widows’ House has two floors. It has been expanded by a side building, which also has two floors. The entire building complex presents itself as an angular house.
Even though the Widows’ House only has one side building, the garden area almost looks like a courtyard because of the close vicinity of the western side wing of the Sisters’ House. Due to a slope in the ground, the Widows’ House looks very tall from the garden side and seen from the Sisters’ House. The basement house front of the main building of the Widows’ House has been erected in red bricks.
The garden area of the Widows’ House contained small garden buildings, a kitchen garden and an ornamental garden.
At the junction where the two buildings have been built together in the corner, the masonry has been covered with a wooden casing just like the side wing’s house front towards the west.
The simplicity of the house fronts of the Widows’ House is very much the same as on the Sisters’ House. Together, these two buildings towards Nørregade present a very homogeneous, calm and harmonic townscape.
The Widows’ House today
Today the Widows’ House contains private flats in the main building towards Nørregade.
The west wing of the Widows’ House, where the Moravian Museum used to be located, is now empty and a project about a future renovation has been set up.