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Celebrating Frank Furness |
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December 18, 2012,
Volume 59, No. 16 |
2012 marks the centennial of the death of Frank Furness, the architect (below) whose imagination brought scale and grandeur to modern library design. In 1985, Penn’s fine arts library (below) was the University’s first to be designated as a National Historic Landmark; it is also on the list of Philadelphia’s Historic Register. The building was chosen in 2011 by Flavorwire.com as one of “The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World." |
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Frank Furness (1839-1912)
Frank Furness, the acclaimed prolific Philadelphia architect, was among the major architects who helped give shape to Victorian Philadelphia. After serving as a captain in the cavalry during the Civil War, he and his associates dotted the Philadelphia landscape with a remarkable group of buildings—from factories and warehouses to schools, hospitals, banks, railroad stations and private residences. His designs were an eclectic blend of various schools of thought blended into a style that was uniquely his own. His architecture embodied the values of the industrial age. Furness was a co-founder of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institutes of Architects (AIA) and a recipient of both the Congressional Medal of Honor and Centennial Award of Honor.
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A 19th-century masterpiece of Victorian architecture designed by Frank Furness, the library was known for many years as the Furness Building. When he designed it, he intended it both as a gallery and a library. The cornerstone was laid in October 1888, construction was completed in 1890 and the building was dedicated in February 1891. It served as Penn’s main library from 1891 until 1962, and currently houses the fine arts library and related archives and collections. Since 1992, it has been called The Anne & Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library, in honor of the couple who gave a major gift towards the $16.5 million restoration, completed in February 1991—the building’s centennial. The Arthur Ross Gallery has been in the first floor’s south wing since 1983, in a Robert Rodes McGoodwin design added in 1931; it originally housed the Horace Howard Furness Shakespeare Library. After 1962, when the Shakespeare collection moved to the sixth floor of Van Pelt, its former home was refurbished by the Class of 1939 to serve as a meeting room for University Council and the Trustees.
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Courtesy of the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania
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Photo by Scott Spitzer
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To see the building only from the outside is to miss what so impressed an 1891 Harper’s Weekly writer: “you almost fancy yourself in a glass palace, for wherever one looks—the ceiling, the flooring, and the upper part of the walls—one sees nothing but glass.”
The Kroiz Gallery at the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania, has an exhibit now through January 18: Reinventing the Library: Frank Furness’ Library for the University. The Architectural Archives’ Furness Collection includes slides, photos and drawings of many of his projects including the Library for the University of Pennsylvania (1888) (above), Tabor, Perkiomen and Gravers Lane Railroad Stations and a pamphlet design for the Bryn Mawr Hotel. The drawings are largely a gift of G. Holmes Perkins. A large photographic collection was also donated by George E. Thomas, following the publication of his book Frank Furness—Complete Works. |
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In addition to the paintings and sculptures displayed throughout Penn's campus, the University Art Collection includes a number of distinctive decorative arts. A bookcase designed by Frank Furness is one such example (at right). He designed the bookcase together with a desk which is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's permanent collection. The desk and bookcase originally furnished the study of Frank Furness's older brother, Horace Howard Furness. While Frank Furness designed the furniture, the fabrication is attributed to Philadelphia cabinetmaker Daniel Pabst. Penn's bookcase is crafted in walnut with burlwood veneer, and includes sculptural carving and incised decoration. The piece is a marvelous embodiment of the Aesthetic Movement, as it incorporates the period's signature stylized floral motifs, alongside Modern Gothic elements. The University Art Collection loaned Penn's bookcase to display alongside the desk as part of the exhibition, Learning From Frank Furness: Louis Sullivan in 1873. The exhibition will be on view at the PMA until December 30, 2012 in Gallery 110 on the first floor. |
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This bookcase designed by Frank Furness—on loan from the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection—is on view through December 30 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. |
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Click here to see a spread of images from the Furness Library featured in Almanac's 1991 March AT PENN Calendar.
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Almanac -
December 18, 2012, Volume 59, No. 16
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