From the sixteenth century onwards, Antwerp drew a distinction between small and large Almshouses. The small Almshouses were built to care for the elderly. The research field of this contribution concentrates on the Antwerp Almshouses founded during the ancien régime, located within the Spanish fortifications and established by wealthy private individuals or craft guilds. Of the Almshouses that meet these criteria, eleven are still extant in Antwerp. After the abolition of these charitable institutions, a fragmented reallocation policy followed. All these eleven Almshouses are protected monuments, but for many, the protection came too late.