The historic landmark building of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
On April 22, 1876, while America celebrated its centennial, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts marked an important milestone in its then 71-year history with the opening of its new building. While the museums in New York City and Boston (both founded in 1870) were but fledglings, the Pennsylvania Academy began its eighth decade in a striking and revolutionary new home.
The building, designed by the Philadelphia firm of Frank Furness and George Hewitt, is generally considered to be primarily the work of Furness who finished the project after the partnership dissolved in 1875. Furness had been a pupil of Richard Morris Hunt who introduced him to the esthetics of the modern Gothic revival. This included John Ruskin's appreciation of the richly colored designs of 14th-century Venice, Owen Jones's and Christopher Dresser's Eastern influenced ornament, and Viollet le Duc's use of foliated decoration combined with cast-iron architecture.
Rising 70 feet above the sidewalk, the Academy must have seemed a towering fortress in 1876. Today, dwarfed by more recent buildings, it looks like a decorated jewelbox. On the facade, heavy courses of dark stone rise toward a roofline marked with such colorful elements as red and black brick patterning, fanciful floral motifs, and a bas-relief frieze depicting famous artists of the past. A gothic window dominates the central pavilion and creates a motif that recurs inside.
After entering through a low vaulted hall, the visitor steps into the spectacularly ornamented Grand Stairhall. Its staircase, bordered by richly tiled floor and walls, and bronze and mahogany banisters, sweeps upward to the gallery level. This grand space is ringed with gothic arches carrying gold rosette-studded walls. The vaulted ceiling above is painted a brilliant blue with silver stars. Beyond are the galleries where foliate columns support exposed steel beams, one of several radical design elements in the building.
The Academy is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in America. It provides the museum with a magnificent setting for the presentation of its collections and special exhibitions. As the modernist architect Louis I. Kahn observed, the Academy is truly a life-giving and inspired building.
Selected publications on the historic landmark building, designed by Frank Furness and George W. Hewitt
A brochure about the historic landmark building is available for $3.50 in the Museum Shop.
Architectural Treasure Is Restored. Form and Function 2, 1976), pp. 4-7.
Berman, Avis, Furness of Philadelphia: Two Masterworks of American Architecture. Architectural Digest (October 1989), pp. 314-22.
Fearless Frank Furness. Architectural Forum, June, 1960. pp. 109-10.
Hershey, William D. Gilded Geography: Mapping Frank Furness. Arts Exchange 3 (May-June 1977), pp. 20-24, 75-81
Lewis, Michael J. Frank Furness: Architecture and the Violent Mind, 2001. (W.W. Norton $ Co.)
List, Terrence G. The Philadelphia Furness Built. The Philadelphia Inquirer (November 20, 1989), pp. 20-21 [Weekend Section].
Monahan, Anne. Of a Doubtful Gothic: Islamic Sources for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Nineteenth Century 18 (Fall 1998), pp. 28-36.
Morton, David. Furness Unfettered. Progressive Architecture, (November 1976), pp. 50-53.
Myers, Hyman. The Buildings of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Antiques CXXI, no.3 (March 1982), pp. 679-89.
O'Gorman, James F. The Architecture of Frank Furness, 1973 (Philadelphia Museum of Art) [pp. 80-85 on the Pennsylvania Academy].
Orlowski, Mark B. Frank Furness and the Heroic Ideal, Dissertation, 1986 (University of Michigan) [Copy in Pennsylvania Academy Library].
Thomas, George, Lewis, Michael J., and Cohen, Jeffrey. Frank Furness: The Complete Works, 1991 (Princeton Architectural Press).br>
Other Resources
The Archives of the Pennsylvania Academy houses the 1871 building prospectus, cornerstone and inauguration programs, a small amount of correspondence and invoices, clippings, photographs, building fragments, and other materials. The Archives is open to qualified researchers by appointment only. The Academy Library on the third floor of the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building has copies of all published materials listed above. The Library is open to students and alumni of the Academy.
The original Furness/Hewitt drawings for the building are part of the Museum collection. They can be examined by appointment only. Apply in writing to the Museum Registrar. Photographs of these drawings are available through the Rights and Reproductions Dept. A packet of six photocopies of the drawings is available for $1 from the Archives.
Photography of the building interior is allowed, without flash, by appointment with the Rights and Reproductions Dept. Photography of the exterior of the building may be taken at any time without permission. File photography of the building is extensive. Apply to the Archives to examine these materials.
Exhib. List PDF >
Contact Archivist >
