Shen Place Almshouses

At the start of the 19th century the Brentwood Workhouse had been set up in a row of old cottages on the far east end of the High Street. These were later converted back into cottages after a much larger purpose-built workhouse was constructed by the town council. In 1910, Evelyn Heseltine, a wealthy stockbroker who had purchased a large amount of land in Great Warley, wanted to fund the construction of new almshouses in Brentwood. Since 1875, when he moved to the area, he had built many arts-and-crafts style buildings in Great Warley, and these new almshouses would be designed and built in the same way.

They would become known as Shen Place Almshouses and were designed by Harker and Kirk of Buckingham Street on the Strand. According to an inscription on the building they were built in 1910, but construction seems to have completed ready for tennants to move in by early summer 1911. They were built exclusively for elderly people who are members of the Church of England, and continue to be used for the same purpose now.

The building was celebrated as an excellent design when it was built and in 1912 the architectural drawings were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Much of the wood carving was copied from the tudor Assize House in Brentwood, which had been demolished half a century before. The front of the building is decorated with the same poem as can be found written inside Great Warley church.

Chelmsford Chronicle, 16 June 1911, BRENTWOOD ALMSHOUSES.The almshouses are built iun the accustomed style with long overhanging roofs. The woodworking is all of massive oak, and they are built in a manner which provides an object lesson for substantial perminency. The front, ornamented with striking mosaic work, looks across a garden to the main road. The back also looks across a garden to the Grammer School playing field and Shenfield-common.

In 1988 the building was completely refurbished at a cost of over £710,000.