archie
Sign in Get the app

Fisher Fine Arts Library

Architect
Frank Furness
Style
Venetian Gothic
City
Philadelphia, PA
Collection
furness's gilded city
Fisher Fine Arts Library
Photo: MatthewMarcucci at English Wikipedia, Public domain
See it on the map

The Fisher Fine Arts Library served as the University of Pennsylvania's main library from 1891 to 1962, a red sandstone, brick, and terra-cotta Venetian Gothic pile designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness. Its cornerstone was laid in 1888 and construction finished in 1890, giving the east side of Penn's College Green a building that reads as part fortress, part cathedral.

the building

The Main Reading Room. The library's plan separates circulation from study space: readers reach the five stories via a staircase inside the tower rather than passing through the stacks. The Main Reading Room itself is a soaring four-story space enclosed in brick and terra-cotta, divided by an arcade.

A second life as an art library. After Penn's Van Pelt Library opened in 1962, the building was renamed the Furness Building and given over to the university's art and architecture collections. A six-year, $16.5-million restoration completed in 1991 gave it its current name, honoring donors Anne and Jerome Fisher.

the style

Furness worked in the Venetian Gothic style here, rendered in red sandstone with brick and terra-cotta trim — a combination that reads as part medieval fortress, part cathedral, and stands as one of the style's most idiosyncratic American expressions.

More on Venetian Gothic

the architect

Frank Furness (1839–1912) was one of the most significant American architects of his era, practicing in Philadelphia; this library, in his idiosyncratic Venetian Gothic idiom, is among his best-known designs.

significance

The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

nearby

All 127 buildings in Philadelphia