Memorial Hall (Philadelphia)

Last updated

Memorial Hall
Memorial Hall Phila.jpg
Home of the Please Touch Museum
Street map of Philadelphia and surrounding area.png
Red pog.svg
USA Pennsylvania location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationWest Fairmount Park
4231 Avenue of the Republic
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19131
Coordinates 39°58′45″N75°12′35″W / 39.97917°N 75.20972°W / 39.97917; -75.20972
Area3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built1876
Architect Herman J. Schwarzmann
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts
NRHP reference No. 76001665 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPDecember 8, 1976
Designated NHLDecember 8, 1976

Memorial Hall is a Beaux-Arts style building which is located in the Centennial District of West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built as the art gallery for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it is the only major structure from that exhibition to survive. It subsequently housed the Pennsylvania Museum of Industrial Art (now the Philadelphia Museum of Art).

Contents

Since October 18, 2008, the Hall has served as home to the Please Touch Museum. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The building is located west of the Schuylkill River, at the corner of East Memorial Hall Drive and the Avenue of the Republic. [2]

History

Memorial Hall was designed by Herman J. Schwarzman, and is an early example of monumental Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States. Schwarzman, the chief engineer of the Fairmount Park Commission, also designed the temporary Horticultural Hall for the Exposition. [3] The building cost $1.5 million to construct and was made without wood, making it fireproof, which was innovative for the time.

The exterior is finished with granite and the interior is decorated with marble and ornamental plaster. The building is 365 feet (111 m) by 210 feet (64 m) with basement and ground floor, and 150 feet (46 m) tall at the top of the building's most distinctive feature, an iron and glass dome. Surmounting the dome is the 23-foot-tall (7.0 m) statue of Columbia (the poetic symbol of the United States) holding a laurel branch. At the corners of the dome stand four statues symbolizing industry, commerce, agriculture and mining. Memorial Hall was the inspiration for the Reichstag building in Berlin. [4]

Vestibule, during the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Vestibule, Memorial Hall, by Centennial Photographic Co..jpg
Vestibule, during the 1876 Centennial Exposition.

Centennial Exposition

Construction of the hall began on 6 July 1874 and was completed for the opening ceremonies on May 10, 1876. President Ulysses S. Grant dedicated the building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The President was joined by both Houses of Congress, and Supreme Court, and the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil to kick off the event. Nearly ten million visitors walked through Memorial Hall during the exhibition that lasted from May to November. [5]

Memorial Hall was designed to house the Centennial Exposition's art exhibits. The exposition received so many art contributions that a separate annex was built to house them all. Another building was built for the display of photography. [6] The hall was one of over two hundred buildings constructed on the property of Fairmount Park to display exhibits.

After the Exposition

Memorial Hall reopened in 1877 as the museum portion of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. The building closed in 1928 when the Philadelphia Museum of Art opened on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Fairmount Park Commission took over the building in 1958 where it made its offices. [7] [8]

The hall was used as a police station for a period of time and has also housed a gymnasium and a swimming pool in its wings. [8] [9]

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 8, 1976. The building had fallen into great disrepair by 2000 and was used mainly for art storage. The Fairmount Park Commission sought a new tenant to help restore the building to its former glory. The Please Touch Museum signed an eighty-year lease for the building in 2005 and began extensive renovations.

Key events and usage

Philadelphia Orchestra recordings

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Philadelphia Orchestra made a number of recordings in a basketball court in Memorial Hall under the batons of Riccardo Muti and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Memorial Hall was used because the Academy of Music, the orchestra's home at the time, was considered not resonant enough. [10]

Richie Ashburn viewing

In September 1997, a viewing for former Philadelphia Phillies baseball player and long-time broadcaster Richie Ashburn was held shortly after his death from a heart attack in New York City. Several hundred thousand people mourned his death as they walked by his casket in the Grand Hall.

Please Touch Museum

In 2005, the Please Touch Museum began an $85-million renovation to convert it into its new home. The museum opened its doors to the public on October 18, 2008. [11] Memorial Hall's eastern lawn serves as the home field for Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia, a vintage base ball team which plays by 1864 rules.

Renovated Memorial Hall (March 2010) MemorialHallPhila02.jpg
Renovated Memorial Hall (March 2010)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial Exposition</span> First official Worlds Fair held in the US, 1876

The Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, was held in Philadelphia from May 10 to November 10, 1876. It was the first official world's fair to be held in the United States, and coincided with the centennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence's adoption in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairmount Park</span> United States historic place

Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with the two sections together totalling 2,052 acres (830 ha). Management of Fairmount Park and the entire citywide park system is overseen by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, a city department created in 2010 from the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Rush (sculptor)</span> American sculptor

William Rush was a U.S. neoclassical sculptor from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is considered the first major American sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Grafly</span> American sculptor

Charles Allan Grafly, Jr. was an American sculptor, and teacher. Instructor of Sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for 37 years, his students included Paul Manship, Albin Polasek, and Walker Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts</span> Museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the first and oldest art museum and art school in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Philippe Cret</span> French-American architect and industrial designer (1876–1945)

Paul Philippe Cret was a French-born Philadelphian architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he taught at a design studio in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial District (Philadelphia)</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, United States

The Centennial District is a 700-acre section of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States that contains the Philadelphia Zoo, the Please Touch Museum and the Mann Music Center. The neighborhood sits on a section of town that was the location of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, which was 100 years after the founding of the United States with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Philadelphia</span>

The architecture of Philadelphia is a mix of historic and modern styles that reflect the city's history. The first European settlements appeared within the present day borders of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 17th century with most structures being built from logs. By the 18th century, brick structures had become common. Georgian and later Federal style buildings dominated much of the cityscape. In the first half of the 19th century, Greek revival appeared and flourished with architects such as William Strickland, John Haviland, and Thomas U. Walter. In the second half of the 19th century, Victorian architecture became popular with the city's most notable Victorian architect being Frank Furness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Please Touch Museum</span> Childrens museum in Pennsylvania

The Please Touch Museum is a children's museum located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum focuses on teaching children through interactive exhibits and special events, mostly aimed at children seven years old and younger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial National Bank</span> United States historic place

The Centennial National Bank is a historic building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by noted Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and significant in his artistic development, it was built in 1876 as the headquarters of the eponymous bank that would be the fiscal agent of the Centennial Exposition. The building housed a branch of the First Pennsylvania Bank from 1956 until Drexel University purchased it c. 1976. Drexel renovated it between 2000-2002 and now uses it as an alumni center. The Centennial National Bank, described as "one of the best pieces of architecture in West Philadelphia," was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilson Brothers & Company</span> American architectural firm

Wilson Brothers & Company was a prominent Victorian-era architecture and engineering firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was regarded for its structural expertise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph A. Bailly</span> American sculptor

Joseph Alexis Bailly was an American sculptor who spent most of his career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which has a collection of his sculpture. His most famous work is the statue of George Washington in front of Independence Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith Memorial Arch</span> Memorial arch in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Smith Memorial Arch is an American Civil War monument at South Concourse and Lansdowne Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built on the former grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it serves as a gateway to West Fairmount Park. The Memorial consists of two colossal columns supported by curving, neo-Baroque arches, and adorned with 13 individual portrait sculptures ; two eagles standing on globes; and architectural reliefs of eight allegorical figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John J. Boyle (sculptor)</span> American sculptor (1851–1917)

John J. Boyle was an American sculptor active in Philadelphia in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his large-scale figurative bronzes in public settings, and, particularly, his portraiture of Native Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman J. Schwarzmann</span> American architect

Herman J. Schwarzmann, also known as Hermann J. Schwarzmann or H. J. Schwarzmann, was a German-born American architect who practiced in Philadelphia and later in New York City.

<i>The American Volunteer</i> (statue)

The American Volunteer – also known as The American Soldier – is a colossal granite statue that crowns the U.S. Soldier Monument and forms the centerpiece of Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, Maryland. The monument is also known as the Private Soldier Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial comfort stations</span>

The Centennial comfort stations are two brick buildings in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park originally built for the 1876 Centennial Exposition. They were located south of the now-demolished Horticulture Building and used as public toilets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio House (Philadelphia)</span> Historic house in Pennsylvania, United States

The Ohio House, or the Ohio State Building, is an historic, American building that is located in west Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

References

Notes

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. Caviglia, Ryan. "Treasure in the Park". The New Colonist. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  3. "Memorial Hall". Fairmount Park Commission. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  4. Filler, Martin, Makers of Modern Architecture, Volume 1, New York: The New York Review of Books, 2007, ISBN   978-1-59017-227-8, p. 226
  5. "History of Memorial Hall and the 1876 Centennial". Please Touch Museum. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  6. Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition, pages 101 - 103
  7. Gross, Linda P.; Theresa R. Snyder (2005). Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   0-7385-3888-4., page 105
  8. 1 2 Wainwright, Nicholas; Weigley, Russell; Wolf, Edwin (1982). Philadelphia: A 300-Year History . W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN   0-393-01610-2.
  9. Resinger, Kelly. "Memorial Hall Update". Please Touch Museum. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
  10. Dobrin, Peter. "A memorable musical moment at Memorial Hall". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  11. ""The History of Please Touch Museum" from the museum's official website". Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2010.