The Poor House was by some reckoned to be one of the noblest buildings of its kind in South Staffordshire.
In West Bromwich we saw a rapid increase in the population of the area from 52,500 in 1841 to 70,000 just ten years later.
The pressure therefore for accommodation of the poor mounted and eventually the new workhouse was built between 1855-58 in a Gothic styled building, designed by the architects Briggs & Everall of Birmingham, at a cost of some £27,000.
It was by some reckoned to be one of the noblest buildings of its kind in South Staffordshire. It could accommodate 820 inmates. In 1887, a new block containing a boardroom and relief offices was erected fronting onto Hallam Street. The building was deigned by Messrs. Henman and Timmins. The main workhouse buildings have been demolished but the infirmary and several surviving peripheral buildings became part of Sandwell Hospital.
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It had a cost of some £27,000 to build.