"Some say that the greatest piece of art in the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the building itself — PAFA’s lavish Victorian structure at Broad and Cherry Streets.

These days, much of its interior is unrecognizable.

PAFA’s grand staircase inside the 1876 building remains impressive, but nearby galleries and other spaces are currently shrouded in darkness and covered in protective materials as a 15-month renovation project proceeds. Most of the art is gone, with a few pieces of remaining sculpture scattered and wrapped in plastic.

Perhaps most startlingly, you can stand in parts of the building’s central hall and look straight up beyond where ceilings once were — into the vast, scorching attic, and to skylights above that flood the space with diffused light.

We slipped into the building for a tour with Ed Poletti, PAFA’s special projects manager, before all is zipped up, spiffed up, and the rare views are once again concealed.

PAFA is well into $13 million in work on the building, designed by famed Philadelphia architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt. Fundraising has entered the final stretch, with $2 million more to go. The overarching goal is to keep at bay the enemy of art, moisture and water, and to provide stable environmental conditions for PAFA’s own collection and visiting works.

'The challenge we had before was we had a lot of piping,' said Poletti, 'which our museum director always hated because pipes break, pipes leak.' 

PAFA’s HVAC system was installed in 1976, and creating uniform temperature and humidity throughout the building was difficult.

Now the entire HVAC system is being replaced, and, by the end of the project, PAFA aims to have resurfaced the walls of all of the galleries with drywall."

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Read the full article "A last look at PAFA before all is zipped and spiffed up" online at inquirer.com by Peter Dobrin and Monica Herndon (Philadelphia Inquirer, July 24, 2025).

Featured Image from the article: Thomas Crawford’s “Peri at the Gates of Paradise” is covered in plastic during construction at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Photography by Monica Herndon.