Historic Philadelphia

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Top: The Spanish Renaissance buildings and
landscaped cloister of the Overbrook School
for the Blind, along with a number of
students, as they appeared in 1900. The
school currently serves 200 visually
impaired students.
OVERBROOK SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
Above: The Spanish Renaissance buildings
and landscaped cloister of the Overbrook
School for the Blind, along with a number of
students, taken in 1999. The school has
served visually impaired students since 1833.
Since 1833, Overbrook School for the
Blind has helped students who are visually
impaired achieve their highest potential.
Housed at 6333 Malvern Avenue in a beautiful
campus featuring Spanish Renaissance
buildings with landscaped cloisters, the
school is reminiscent of California missions.
The buildings won a gold medal for design at
the Paris Exposition of 1903. The facilities
have kept pace with the times ever since,
being updated to accommodate new needs
and new teaching methods. The school
houses classrooms, offices, and dormitories.
The school’s goal is to provide students
with the skills they will need to experience
active and fulfilling lives. Students from
birth to age twenty-one are enrolled in programs
ranging from early intervention to
high school. All of Overbrook’s students are
legally blind and some may have additional
physical or cognitive disabilities. The staff
considers the individual first, tailoring educational
programs to the specific needs of
the student.
Typical class size is five to eight students
with at least one teacher and one aide per
class. Technology is present in every classroom
every day—from simple switch-activated
devices to computers with adapted
software for people who are blind.
Along with a regular school curriculum,
Overbrook’s educational programs offer
instruction in orientation and mobility,
career education and work experience, communication,
social interaction, use of assistive
technology, leisure skills and other skills
for daily living. There is a great emphasis on
literacy, whether a student uses Braille or
large print. Overbrook strives to provide
focused, individualized, creative instruction
every day.
Julius Friedlander, a young teacher of children
who were blind or had serious visual
impairments, founded the school as the
Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of
the Blind in 1832. Friedlander came to
Philadelphia from Germany. In 1833, the
school’s constitution was written, a board of
managers selected, a building rented.
By the time Friedlander died in 1838,
enrollment had reached fifty-nine students
who studied academic subjects and music,
and made articles to sell in a workshop. The
present buildings were built in 1898-99,
designed by the architectural firm of Cope
and Stewardson. The name of the school was
changed to Overbrook School for the Blind in
1946 to legally comply with the name by
which it was commonly known since its relocation
to the Overbrook section of the city.
The school is currently serving 200 students
from southeastern Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. The Overbrook School for the Blind’s
web site address is www.obs.org.
HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA
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