ROYAL HERITAGE
The foundation stone for the Emma Barter Almshouses was laid on 29 August 1883 and the first resident (a woman) moved in during December of that year.
The original building consisted of 12 bedrooms, at least one outside storeroom, a kitchen and perhaps a lounge.
The Collins Wing, consisting of 7 bedrooms, was completed in 1955, which was paid for by a former mayor of Pietermaritzburg, Harry Collins.
A Chapel Wing followed in the late 1980s consisting of a chapel, a lounge and several bedrooms. An adjacent cottage in Burger Street was bought in the late 1990s to provide extra bedrooms for residents.
The foundation stone of the second almshouse, the Queen Victoria Memorial Home, was laid on 23 August 1904. The home was officially opened on 29 March 1905.
A feature of the home in the early days was a room furnished in loving memory by the sisters of the late Captain Bruce Steer DSO, who died in South Africa on 21 September 1904. Likewise noteworthy is a room bearing a plaque of the South African Legion (British Empire Service League) which is dated February 1924.
An outside summer house was completed in 1955.
A constant reminder of the connection with royalty is the large and imposing picture of Queen Victoria dated 1885, as well as other pictures of royalty that hang in the present-day lounge of the Home. One wing is called the Elizabeth Wing, with others bearing the names of Charles, Diana, Albert and Beatrice.
The Royal Family paid a visit to the Home during their tour of South Africa in 1947, accompanied by the then Prime Minister of South Africa, Jan Christiaan Smuts.
The Emma Barter Home and the Victoria Memorial Home were probably the first “official” old age homes in Pietermaritzburg.
The two homes were run as entirely separate entities, each with its own trustees and committee, until 1987 when the two trusts were amalgamated to become the Allison Homes Trust.
Albert Allison, clearly financially secure, retired from the business world in 1930, at the age of 37, to devote his life purely to charitable endeavours. He regularly donated his own fruit and vegetables to residents of the Queen Mary Place Homes and also bought produce from the market for this purpose. It is said that he used to stand in the centre of Pietermaritzburg giving away fruit to anyone who appeared to be in need.
Allison was mayor of Pietermaritzburg in 1935 and again in 1939–1943.
The Allison Homes Trust were proud that all funds for the building of accommodation for the elderly were obtained from private sources.
Finally, after over 100 years of separation, the wall between the Emma Barter and Victoria Memorial homes for the elderly in Pietermaritzburg was demolished in 2013.
The changes have allowed 10 more rooms to be added, the frail care section of Victoria House now caters for residents from both homes and kitchen and laundry facilities were joined.
