The edifice is a substantial brick, sixty-two feet front and eighty-two deep, four stories high, with a brown-stone front, and is constructed in the Gothic order. The main entrance, over which is the chapel and infirmary, projects several feet from the body of the building, and is reached by a broad flight of stone steps. The basement, which is entirely above ground, contains the kitchen, dining-room, laundry, storerooms, and pantry, besides a broad entrance hall, all conveniently arranged. On the right of the vestibule, on the first floor, is a commodious parlor for visitors, and on the left, one for committees. A large and airy rotunda adjoins, entered through sliding doors, lighted by a dome of sixteen large windows, which may be raised by cords for ventilation. This is surrounded by convenient rooms for inmates, the superintendent's being among them, and so arranged as to make communication easy with any or all of the family. The second and third stories have circular corridors, which are surrounded by pleasant apartments, each having one or more windows, and a ventilator. On either side of the front entrance is a flight of stairs leading to the second story, where over the vestibule and the parlors is the tasty chapel, with seating for one hundred persons, and immediately above this is the infirmary, a large airy room, commanding an extended view of the city and adjacent country. When erected it was said to contain space for the accommodation of one hundred persons, but that number has never been received. It is heated by furnaces throughout, each room having its register. It is well provided with bath-rooms and Croton, has an ample cellar, and at its erection was one of the best ventilated and finest arranged buildings in the city.

The lot purchased cost $6,400, the edifice $30,000, and in 1867 the building adjoining was added at the cost of an additional $20,000. The property is now valued at $125,000. The purchase of the last building made space for the reception of several aged men. Down to the time of entering the new building the family averaged twenty-five, since which it has been at least trebled, and now averages over eighty. Since its opening, in 1850, 194 beneficiaries have shared its generous hospitality, of whom 90 have died, and 21 have been otherwise provided for.

At the opening of the new building a debt of $23,000 remained against the property. The number of inmates soon greatly increased, prices advanced, the war and other providences swept away many of their generous friends, and during these trying periods the managers were often, like Professor Francke at Halle, driven in deep anxiety to the Lord with the pressing wants of the Institution. With much exertion the current expenses were, however, met, and the debt gradually reduced. In June, 1864, a strawberry festival, as is their annual custom, was held, and on the first of July at the meeting of the managers the proceeds were announced to have amounted to $588. The treasurer inquired, "Shall the money be used in paying the interest due on the debt at the Greenwich Savings Bank " At this point Mr. Samuel Halsted, a member of the advisory committee, stepped forward and presented a receipt in full from the president of the bank. He and his excellent brother Schureman had silently by subscription, raised the amount necessary to cancel all indebtedness and to thoroughly repair and repaint the building. A thrill of joy at this delightful surprise ran through every heart, and found expression in the long-meter doxology, which was sung with great zest, all the members rising to their feet.

Several grants have been received from the Common Council and the Legislature, though the sentiment now very generally prevails in the denomination that such donations should neither be solicited nor received. The society has held several moderately successful fairs, realized something every year from donations, festivals, and lectures. It has also been remembered with several small legacies, among which we may mention that of Mrs. Bishop Hedding, of $2,300.

The New York Preachers' meeting annually arranges to supply the Home with preaching, once on each Sabbath, by the pastors stationed in the city. Prayer-meetings, class-meetings, and love-feasts are held statedly, and are often seasons of great interest. Many of the inmates are infirm, some have been entirely helpless for years, and most of them live to very advanced age. In 1854 Mrs. Sarah W. Kairns died, at the advanced age of 117 years, and the same year Mrs. Elizabeth Cairns, aged 100 years. "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation." The New York Conferences, during their sessions in the city, have, at the invitation of the managers, enjoyed some interesting tea-meetings at the Institution, and the old ladies have several times been agreeably surprised by the members of the different churches, who have spread their tables with delicacies, and left other substantial tokens of their regard. The managers now contemplate the removal of the Institution farther up town, to secure more enlarged accommodations. The resident manager and recording secretary, Mrs. Matilda M. Adams, has held some important position in the board since the organization of the society. She is a lady of solid culture, of genial piety, and possesses in an eminent degree those varied administrative faculties befitting her position, and so rarely blended in the same person. May she and all who have toiled with her in this blessed work, and those whose sorrows they have assuaged, meet in that Home where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."