This Institution was originally opened in the city of New York, on May 1, 1852. A year or two previous to that, an aged female called at the rectory of St. Luke's church, in Hudson street, and asked the rector, Rev. Isaac H. Tuttle, whether there was not an asylum or a home of the Episcopal church, where a lady of fourscore might find a retreat for her remaining days. The good man replied, "Madam, I am sorry to say our church has none, but by the grace of God it shall have;" and from that day he set about the work of establishing that much-needed Institution. On St. Luke's Day, October 18, 1851, he preached a sermon on the importance of founding a Home of this kind. He conferred with some of his clerical brethren on the subject, and invited several of his congregation to meet at the rectory and consider the subject. Soon a constitution was adopted, and a subscription liberally signed to support the charity. Two floors in a building were first hired, and several women, who had some employment, were allowed to occupy these furnished rooms gratuitously. Next an entire building was leased, the first floor-rented for a store, and the remaining three occupied as the Home. Such as lacked the means of procuring food were assisted by their personal friends, or by members of St. Luke's church. After a few years, its managers resolved to make the enterprise more general, and to enlarge its plans and accommodations.

The Legislature passed an act of incorporation in 1856 or 1857, and it thus passed from a parish to a general institution under the control of the Protestant Episcopal church of New York. The real estate and finances are vested in a board of managers numbering not less than seven or more than twenty-one ministers and laymen of the Protestant Episcopal church, of whom the bishop of the diocese is the president, and the vice-president is the rector of the Institution. An associate board of lady managers has charge of the internal workings of the Institution, and now numbers in its board representatives from thirty-eight churches. About the time of its incorporation a large brick dwelling immediately adjoining St. Luke's church was purchased, the ground being leased for a term of years. This edifice was afterwards enlarged, but was never large enough to accommodate over thirty-two inmates at one time. A desire for a larger edifice led to an effort to collect a building fund, and $19,000 thus collected were deposited in United States securities in the safe of the Royal Insurance Company, which was robbed, inflicting a loss of $14,000 on this society. This delayed the erection of the new building several years, but the difficulty has been overcome. On the eighteenth of October, 1870, the corner-stone of the much-desired structure was laid by Bishop Potter, in the presence of a large number of the clergy and citizens of New York.

The building is located on the north-east corner of Madison avenue and Eighty-ninth street, one block from the Central Park, and two blocks only from one of the principal entrances to the Park.

The building is four stories high and in the form of an L, with main entrance on the corner; it extends eighty feet on Madison avenue and seventy-five feet on the street. The style is medieval Gothic, with Mansard roof, and three towers. The materials are Philadelphia pressed brick trimmed with Buena Vista stone.

On the first floor is a vestibule, a fine octagonal hall, 15 x 15, a large room, 38 x 19, for the meetings of managers, and a dining-room, 33 x 19, intended to seat some sixty or seventy persons; the whole so arranged that by opening folding-doors a sweep of over seventy-three feet can be obtained. Back of the main entrance hall is a roomy inner private hall and corridors leading to dining-room, etc. On the same floor will also be found the matrons room and office, the infirmaries, the rector's and doctor's office, and five chambers, adapted to the use of such of the inmates as may, through great age or infirmity, find it difficult to ascend the stairs.

Two elevators ascend to the upper story, and three stairways afford means of escape in case of fire. There are 208 doors, 114 windows, 67 marble wash-basins, and 77 rooms, affording space for seventy-four inmates. The building was erected with the strictest economy, and cost $55,000.

On grounds contiguous to the Home, Miss Caroline Talman has just erected a small church, a memorial of her deceased parents, thus securing to the beneficiaries of the Home a convenient place for public worship.

Applicants for admission into the Home must be persons of respectability in reduced circumstances, and members of churches represented in the board of associate managers, and contributing to the support of the Institution. An admission fee of one hundred dollars is required from each beneficiary, and the person is then received for life. Every inmate, if able, is required to keep her own room in a neat and clean condition, to take her turn in dusting the parlor and in washing the dishes; but if ill, her meals are carried to her room, and the attention of the physician and the nurses promptly provided. The Institution contains a library of pleasant and interesting books, and visitors read to those who are sick or unable to read for themselves. The old ladles at the Home, in March, 1867, formed themselves into a benevolent society, to fashion little garments for the children of the "Sheltering Arms," another Institution of the same denomination. The material they obtain from their friends outside, and do much more than one would suppose. The first year after their organization they gave away 25 pairs of hospital slippers, 109 garments, 48 pillow-slips, 2 dresses, and 15 pairs of knit Stockings. Thus, while they receive, they find it blessed to give. Many applicants have long been waiting admission into the Home, and a year or two since one actually died of joy on receiving the welcome summons to enter the Institution. Rev. I. H. Tuttle is still the chaplain of the Institution. His presence among the inmates is always as a ray of sunshine, and to him are referred all differences and difficulties.