Fisher Fine Arts Library

Infobox_nrhp | name =Fisher Fine Arts Library (Furness Library), University of Pennsylvania
nrhp_type = nhl


caption =
location= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
locmapin = Pennsylvania
area = 116,000 sq ft
built =1888-91
architect= Frank Furness; Furness,Evans, & Co.
architecture= Gothic, Other
designated= February 4, 1985cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1267&ResourceType=Building
title=Furness Library, School of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania |accessdate=2008-07-03|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = May 19, 1972cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = State
refnum=72001154The Anne & Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library, also known as the Furness Library, is located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, on the east side of College Green. Designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness (1839-1912), the red sandstone, brick and terra cotta Venetian Gothic giant -- part fortress and part cathedral -- was built to be the primary library of the University, and to house it archeological collection. The cornerstone was laid in October 1888, construction completed in 1890, and the building was dedicated in February 1891. [ [http://uchs.net/HistoricDistricts/furness.html Applications for Historical Landmark Status] Accessed July 20, 2007]

The library's plan is exceptionally innovative: circulation to the building's 5 stories is through the tower's staircase, separated from the reading room and stacks. The stacks are housed in a modular iron-and-glass wing (fireproof), designed to hold 100,000 books, and to be infinitely expandable, with a movable south wall. The Main Reading Room is a soaring 4-story brick-and-terra-cotta-enclosed space, separated by an arcade from the 2-story Rotunda Reading Room. The latter has a basilical plan, with seminar rooms grouped around an apse (like sidechapels), the whole lighted by clerestory windows and skylights. Throughout the building are leaded glass windows inscribed with literary quotations, chosen by Horace Howard Furness (Frank's older brother), a Shakespearean scholar and University lecturer. The architect collaborated with Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System, and others to make this the most modern American library building of its time. [Edward R. Bosley, University of Pennsylvania Library (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), pp. 17-22.]

Within a generation, Frank Furness's exuberant masterwork was considered an embarassment. The University Museum moved to its own building in 1899. The Durhing Wing was added to the south end of the stacks in 1915, making their designed expansion impossible. Plans were made to cloak the entire building in sedate Collegiate Gothic brick and stone. The first step toward this was the 1931 addition of a reading room (now the Arthur Ross Gallery) facing College Green. Almost perversely, the incongruous Collegiate Gothic addition, built to house his Shakespeare collection, was named for Horace Howard Furness. [Bosley, p. 60.]

In 1957, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin columnist and cartoonist Alfred Bendiner invited Frank Lloyd Wright to tour the Victorian behemoth, then threatened with demolition. The architect proclaimed: "It is the work of an artist." [Alfred Bendiner, Bendiner's Philadelphia (New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1964), pp. 40-41.]

The building served as the main library of the University of Pennsylvania until the construction of the Van Pelt Library in 1962. Today, it houses collections related to architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation, history of art, and studio arts.

The Furness Library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/72001154.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Furness Library, Schoo of the Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania] |32 KB|date=1984-08-10 |author=Carolyn Pitts |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/72001154.pdf "Accompanying four photos from 1964"] |32 KB] Between 1986 and 1991, the building was restored by a team that included Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc., CLIO Group, Inc., and Marianna Thomas Architects. On the occasion of its centennial in February 1991, it was rededicated as the "Anne & Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library" (after the restoration's primary benefactors). The $16.5 million restoration garnered rave reviews from New York Times critic Paul Goldberger, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDB1631F931A35755C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Paul Goldberger, "In Philadelphia, a Victorian Extravaganza Lives," The New York Times, June 2, 1991.] ] and received national awards from the American Institute of Architects (1993), the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (1992), and the Victorian Society in America (1991). [Bosley, p. 60.]

The Fisher Fine Arts Library was featured prominently in the 1993 film "Philadelphia".

References

External links

* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.pa0675 Historic American Building Survey: 10 photos]

* [http://www.library.upenn.edu/finearts/ Official Site]
* [http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47677841/ Fisher Fine Arts in Winter]