This print depicts the buildings of the Department for Colored Children of the House of Refuge in Philadelphia, including the girls’ dormitories, the girls’ dining and sewing rooms, the supervisors’ rooms and the main entrance, the boys’ dormitories, and the boys’ school rooms. A tall brick wall surrounds the rear and sides of the complex of buildings and two men and a boy are seen talking in the foreground. The lithograph is also used as one of a pair of illustrations printed on textile in 1858, as well as the frontispiece to the Thirtieth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the House of Refuge, the other being “View of the Department for White Children of the House of Refuge.” Founded in 1828, the House of Refuge was the first institution in Pennsylvania charged with reforming and educating juveniles accused of delinquency and providing an alternative to prison. These buildings, located between Parrish and Brown Streets between 22nd and 24th Streets, opened in 1850.