Memorial Hall (Philadelphia)

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.{{cite web|title=Memorial Hall|url=http://www.fairmountpark.org/MemorialHall.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630202315/http://www.fairmountpark.org/MemorialHall.asp|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 30, 2007|publisher=Fairmount Park Commission|accessdate=August 1, 2010}} 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 {{convert|365|ft}} by {{convert|210|ft}} with basement and ground floor, and {{convert|150|ft}} tall at the top of the building's most distinctive feature, an iron and glass dome. Surmounting the dome is the {{convert|23|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} 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.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

File:Vestibule, Memorial Hall, by Centennial Photographic Co..jpg

{{Main|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.{{cite web|title=History of Memorial Hall and the 1876 Centennial|url=http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/memorial_hall/history/|publisher=Please Touch Museum|accessdate=August 1, 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620123153/http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/memorial_hall/history/|archivedate=June 20, 2010|url-status=dead}}

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.Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition, pages 101 - 103 The hall was one of over two hundred buildings constructed on the property of Fairmount Park to display exhibits.

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.{{cite book |last=Gross |first=Linda P. |author2=Theresa R. Snyder |title=Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial Exhibition |date=2005 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=0-7385-3888-4 |page=105}}{{cite book | last1=Beers | first1=Dorothy Gondos | chapter=The Centennial City, 1865–1876 | title=Philadelphia: A 300 Year History | date=1982 | publisher=W. W. Norton | location=New York | isbn=978-0-393-01610-9 | editor-last1=Weigley | editor-first1=Russell F. |editor-link1=Russell Weigley| editor-last2=Wainwright | editor-first2=Nicholas B. | editor-last3=Wolf | editor-first3=Edwin II | editor-link3=Edwin Wolf II | url=https://archive.org/details/philadelphia300y00weig | page=462}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/memorial_hall_update/ |title=Memorial Hall Update |accessdate=2007-01-17 |last=Resinger |first=Kelly |publisher=Please Touch Museum |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206165647/http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/memorial_hall_update/ |archivedate=2007-02-06 }}{{clear left}}

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.

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.{{cite web | url = http://www.philly.com/philly/news/special_packages/inquirer/PT_in_MusicReview.html | title = A memorable musical moment at Memorial Hall | accessdate = 2012-08-19 | last = Dobrin | first = Peter | work = Philadelphia Inquirer}}

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.

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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/about/history |title="The History of Please Touch Museum" from the museum's official website |access-date=2010-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502055002/http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/about/history/ |archive-date=2009-05-02 |url-status=dead }} 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.

Image:MemorialHallPhila02.jpg

File:Memorial hall and annex ground floor plan.jpg|Ground plan of Art Gallery and Annex (1876).

File:Art Gallery and Memorial Hall, March 7, by Centennial Photographic Co..jpg|Nearing completion (March 7, 1876).

Image:Memorial Hall%2C Phila new.jpg|East facade

File:HABS PA,51-PHILA,265B-20.jpg|Southwest vestibule

File:Memorial Hall rotunda.jpg|Rotunda

File:L winged horse Philly.jpg|Statue near entrance

File:Beaux-arts doorway at memorial hall.jpg|Beaux-Arts doorway

{{Portal|Philadelphia}}

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia
• National Register of Historic Places listings in West Philadelphia
• Ohio House - the Ohio state exhibit for the Centennial, which is also still standing
• Centennial comfort stations - two comfort stations, which are also still standing

Notes

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Memorial Hall (Philadelphia)|Memorial Hall}}
• [http://www.ushistory.org/districts/fairmountpark/memor.htm Memorial Hall] - a walking tour by the Independence Hall Association
• {{HABS |survey=PA-1659 |id=pa0944 |title=International Exposition of 1876, Memorial Hall |photos=35 |color=4 |data=7 |cap=6}}\
• [http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/20390 International Exhibition of 1876 Memorial Hall] at the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20121128002719/http://www.fairmountpark.org/MemorialHall.asp Fairmount Park Commission page (archive)]}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia

Category:Event venues established in 1876

Category:Beaux-Arts architecture in Pennsylvania

Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia

Category:National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania

Category:World's fair architecture in Pennsylvania

Category:Centennial Exposition

Category:Philadelphia Register of Historic Places

Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1876

Category:West Fairmount Park

Category:1876 establishments in Pennsylvania

Category:Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania