fire that burned it down. Hofje van Loo was an add-on that survived. The Elisabeth Gasthuys (later called EG) was rebuilt on the location of a former monastery (cellenbroers or minnebroers) in the Groot Heiligland (across the street from the Frans Hals Museum today) where it operated from 1581 to 1971. Originally a church institution, it was now run by Haarlem council members, due to the Protestant Reformation. Since the German occupation of World War II, this hospital is no longer run by the Haarlem council, but still exists and is called the Kennemer Gasthuis today. The former buildings in the Groot Heiligland house a community center and have been converted to homes. Management The hofjes are managed by five board members called regents. Any community structure in Haarlem, be it a guild or a hofje, had a group of five regents or regentesses. Whenever there was a change of board members, a commemorative painting would be made. In paintings by Frans Hals' the regents of the Poor men's almshouse and the regents of the St. Elisabeth Gasthuys can be seen. Many guilds kept hofjes for their own aging members. When the guilds were disbanded under the French occupation in 1794, the guild regents kept their role as hofje regents, since the hofjes were at that time still quite wealthy. With the tiercering in 1810 however, the lack of revenues from both government bonds and guild membership dues was sorely felt and many hofjes went bankrupt and were disbanded. Wealth It was the duty of the regents to care for the books and the behavior of the members. Many hofjes were quite wealthy, due to the high turnover of its members, who had to donate all of their possessions to the hofje in order to be accepted for living there. Other sources of income were lotteries, that were organized to build new premises or restore old ones. The living conditions between the various hofjes varied substantially, with each religious order competing to keep the most luxurious one. Today most of the surviving hofjes receive their income from housing rents. Origins When talking of hofjes, most people refer to the name given to the buildings themselves, but the foundations they are based on may have moved premises several times since the original foundation date, and even changed their names. Hofjes in Haarlem were primarily the result of generous bequests by wealthy