The mysterious blue doors in London which hide a former 1800s asylum | UK News

Jim Grover had often wondered what lay behind the blue doors on Brixton’s busy Acre Lane in London. They seemed to always be shut, yet the flickering of lights and fleeting shadows in windows suggested there was some sort of presence. 

The social documentary photographer had stumbled upon the building while researching almshouses – charitable homes provided for the ‘financially needy’ – in the area. Originally called hospitals or bede houses, the concept dates back to the medieval times.

And the property with the blue doors was one of them. 

Jim had become hooked on finding out more about this Brixton almshouse, so made it his mission to find a way to get through the doors so he could take a peek inside. 

Pouring over archive material to piece together the history of the building, his first clue were the words ‘THOMAS BAILEY’ in old lettering above one of the windows sat next to the entrance, with ‘TRINITY HOMES’ emblazoned above another.

‘I’ve always wanted to find a way to explore an almshouse,’ Jim tells Metro.co.uk from his home in Clapham.

‘I’ve always been intrigued to know what it’s like. To what extent are they a community? How do you get to become a resident? 

‘So when I was told there was this amazing Georgian almshouse on Acre Lane in Brixton, I needed to know what was going on behind those doors.’

Through ‘detective work’, Jim discovered that the almshouse was built in 1822 and that £2,000 – around £275,000 in today’s money – was given by Thomas Bailey, a Brixton resident, two years later. There are several entrances to the, now, 18-room building, all with blue doors.

Bailey was an incredibly successful china and glass merchant and also very devoted to God. He christened the almshouse the ‘Trinity Asylum’. However, it wasn’t for the mentally ill, as many might believe, but instead a simple sanctuary for ‘pious [religious] aged women.’ 

Criteria for entry was very strict. Applicants had to have a small income, provide references that proved their religious faith, be single – and, most specifically, aged between 57 and 67.  

One of those women was Margaret Wright, who had fallen on hard times. She had lived on just £25 a year – less than £4,000 a year in today’s money – in Faversham, Kent. With nowhere else to go, the 61-year-old had begged for a place at the Trinity Asylum. 

Jim connected with a trustree and, over several months, got to know some of the people who lived in the building. He discovered their stories ahead of a new photo exhibition, to be held at Lambeth Archives from April 19 to June 1.

‘I’m in my sixties,’ Jim says. ‘And I’m inspired by these people in their seventies and eighties doing so much in their life and in their community. They have really joyful, inspiring stories.

‘We all think we lead very ordinary lives. But I’ve learned that everyone’s life is extraordinary. My role as a documentary photographer is to tease that extraordinary aspect out of people, and  to make them proud of what they’ve done.’

The idea of an almshouse may seem like something out of a Dickens novel rather than a fixture of the 21st century. But with sky-rocketing rents and the struggle young people face in becoming first-time-buyers, they have become a very real prospect for people struggling to make ends meet.

‘There’s a view that almshouses are one part of the solution to the social housing crisis,’ explains Jim. ‘They were recently described as the unsung heroes of UK social housing.

‘And they are growing in number. There are around 2000 almhouses in the country, with two new ones in South London recently. So they are quite topical, and there is a relevance here in understanding their role and how they work.

‘I want people to understand what they can offer in society right now, where housing and poverty are a real issue for many people.’

Trinity Homes has been a key part of Brixton’s history for 200 years, yet thousands have walked past the blue doors on Acre Lane not realising the hidden history they hold.

In a bid to change that, Jim’s new exhibition ‘Behind the Blue Doors’, starting on April 19 at the Lambeth Archives Facility in Brixton, will bring together photos, archive material and stories he has collected. His mission? To ‘make the unseen seen’.

Jim adds: ‘I’d like people to learn more about the amazing people who happened to live in the almshouse I’ve documented. I’d love for them to be inspired by the rich lives these individuals are leading in what people would regard as their “older age”. 

‘And if you live in Brixton, I’d love people to visit and think “wow, I had no idea we had this great story here.”

Behind the Blue Doors takes place at Lambeth Archives, 16 Brixton Hill, 19 April-1 June 2024, free to attend. For those unable to visit Jim’s exhibition, a selection of content will be available on his website from April 19, as well as a new book.  

To find out more, click here.

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