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Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Furness Building)

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Furness Building)

Frank Furness & George Hewitt

Photo: Difference engine · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Client / Owner
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Year
Completed 1876
Access
Tickets required

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts building in Philadelphia was designed by Frank Furness and George Hewitt, and built from 1871 to 1876 for the academy, founded in 1805 by Charles Willson Peale and others. It opened in 1876 in connection with the Philadelphia Centennial, replacing the Gilpin building of 1847, which was demolished in 1870 after storm damage. The infobox lists Second Empire, Renaissance and Gothic styles, and the text adds Renaissance Revival and Gothic Revival, combined in an aggressively personal manner.

The exterior mixes rusticated brownstone, dressed sandstone, polished pink granite, red pressed brick and purplish terra-cotta. The structure is brick, stone and iron, with some iron I-beams left exposed. An 1876 account gives 100 feet on Broad Street and 258 on Cherry Street.

It became a National Historic Landmark in 1975. A 2019 renovation was by DLR Group. It is a museum and private art school.

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