 Built to house a variety of Philadelphia's indigent population, the facility consisted of a quadrangle of four sizable buildings including a poorhouse, a hospital, an orphanage, and an insane asylum.Construction of the first building had begun in 1830, with its cornerstone laid on May 26.William Strickland was the architect and Samuel Sloan, later to be a well-known architect, worked as journeyman carpenter on the project.