Germantown, Georgian; consisting of massive brick piers, surmounted by
stone caps, connected at the top with a wrought iron supporting lantern,
below which are the heavy wrought iron central gates; this, with smaller
gateways, and a most attractive brick wall, forms the enclosure for the
grounds; architects, McKim, Mead & White.
ART COLLECTIONS AND ART SCHOOLS
Philadelphia being the seat of government of colonial times, is
extremely rich in historic portraits. They are in The Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts; Independence Hall; Historical Society of
Pennsylvania; Carpenters’ Hall; American Philosophical Society;
Pennsylvania Hospital; Academy of Natural Science; The Library Company
of Philadelphia; Mercantile Library; College of Physicians; United
States Mint; University of Pennsylvania; many banks and insurance
companies.
PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, Broad Street above Arch; open
free daily, 9.00 A.M. to 5.00
[Illustration: A QUIET HOUR
_Painted by John W. Alexander_ _Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of
the Fine Arts_]
P.M., Sundays, 1.00 P.M. to 5.00 P.M.; fee for special exhibitions; was
the first art institute in America, founded, 1805; its history is in no
small measure the history of American art itself, and dates back to
1791, when Charles Willson Peale attempted to organize in Philadelphia a
school of art; from this grew, in 1794, the Columbianum, which held the
first exhibition of paintings, in 1795, in Independence Hall. The
permanent collection of paintings and sculpture now includes the Gallery
of National Portraiture, with the largest number of portraits by Gilbert
Stuart to be seen in any museum; and notable works by other early
American painters--Benjamin West, Washington Allston, Matthew Pratt, the
Peales, Sully, Neagle, Inman, Eichholz, Trumbull, and Bass Otis; the
Gibson Collection, largely composed of the Continental schools; Temple
collection of modern American paintings; important works by many of the
world’s greatest artists; and the Phillips collection of about forty
thousand etchings and engravings. Annual exhibitions are, miniatures,
water colors, illustration, and etchings in November and December; oil
painting and sculpture in February and March, considered the salon of
living American artists; also special exhibitions and lectures on art.
The Academy coöperates with the system of International Catalogue
Exchange.
Since the beginning of the Academy’s existence, men and women whose
names have become illustrious in the annals of American art have been
enrolled as students. The schools are equipped in every way to teach the
technique of painting and sculpture, the faculty is composed of
representative artists of the day; collections, galleries, classrooms,
models, and casts are admirably fitted to afford instruction fully equal
to that obtainable in Europe. Many substantial prizes are awarded
annually to students upon the merits of their work. The William Emlen
Cresson Travelling Scholarships send, on an average, sixteen students
abroad yearly for four months, and enable them to return to the Academy
and continue their studies without payment of tuition fee. The
Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, organized 1897,
sends out annually two exhibitions of original oil paintings by notable
artists; one to other cities, the other to the Philadelphia public
schools, where they remain one month in each school; while there, the
paintings are explained by a member of the Fellowship to school
children, thus teaching them true appreciation of art. A Picture
Purchase Fund was established in 1912, with which pictures have been
bought, from Fellowship Exhibitions, and placed in Philadelphia
libraries and public schools.
JOHN GRAVER JOHNSON MUSEUM OF PAINTINGS, 510 South Broad Street, left by
bequest April, 1917, to the City of Philadelphia, is open to the public;
throughout Europe and America this vast collection of old and modern
masters is famous for extent and merit. “No other American collection
has so wide a range and so even a quality,” says F. Mason Perkins; it
contains scores of examples which could not be duplicated at any price.
Noted for the completeness of different schools of painting.
PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL OF DESIGN FOR WOMEN, southwest corner of Broad and
Master Streets; first industrial art school in this country; similar to
the “Ecoles Professionelles des Femmes,” in Paris; was founded in 1844
by Mrs. Sarah Peters, the American wife of the British Consul in
Philadelphia, in her own house; later, the Franklin Institute assumed
charge of the classes until 1853, when it was incorporated, and a Board
of Directors elected. Its aim is to put art students in touch with
business demands, as well as to cultivate, to the highest degree, their
artistic ability. The Normal Art Course embodies all the special studies
required by modern educators for teachers of art and design, and with
courses in the fine arts, illustration, and costume illustration; has
trained many women, now earning handsome emoluments and winning
distinction. The residence on Broad Street, forming entrance to the
school, which occupies large buildings in the rear, was the home of
Edwin Forrest, a famous tragedian; the fine gallery which he erected to
house his collection of paintings, now at the Forrest Home for Actors at
Holmesburg, is used for annual exhibitions of the school’s painting
classes. Edwin Forrest died here in 1872 and John Sartain in 1897; John
Sartain was celebrated as a mezzotint engraver, and lived here with his
daughter, Miss Emily Sartain, then principal of the school, herself a
skilled painter, and engraver in mezzotint; who with her well chosen
faculty of eminent artists, carried to a prosperous fulfilment Mrs.
Peters’ initiative effort.
PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM AND SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ART was founded in 1876, as
a concrete embodiment of the lessons taught by the Centennial
Exhibition, and has developed forms of artistic craftsmanship that were
practically unknown in America. The Museum is housed in Memorial Hall,
Fairmount Park, memorial of the Centennial; Modern Renaissance;
architect, Herman J. Schwarzmann. Open free, Mondays, 12.00 M., other
days 9.30 A.M., closing 5.00 P.M., Sundays, 1.00 P.M. to 6.00 P.M.
Established as a museum of art in all its branches and technical
application, with a special view to the development of the art
industries of the state. Among its important collections are the W. P.
Wilstach paintings, about five hundred old masters, with their schools;
and contemporary international paintings, belonging to the City of
Philadelphia; with $700,000 endowment, interest to be used for their
care and increase, by the Commissioners of Fairmount Park; among the
many brilliant artists represented are, Whistler, Munkácsy, Sorolla,
Zuloago, Velasquez, the Barbizon, Italian, and Dutch Schools of
Landscape. The famous Bayeux tapestry is here; laces; vestments;
porcelains; enamels; carved ivories; period furniture; some of the Edwin
Atlee Barber collection of American pottery and porcelains; Lewis
collection of Swiss stained glass, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries;
Frishmuth collection of colonial antiquities. A Bureau of Identification
is maintained where art objects may be classified.
The school is at the northwest corner of Broad and Pine Streets; porch
of this building, facing Broad Street, is a fine example of Tuscan
architecture, erected, 1828. The school has forty instructors. Free
scholarships are given in each county of this state. This is the leading
school in America in associating the study of art with practical
training; through its equipment students not only design, but actually
manufacture; it includes a complete textile plant with looms, dye house,
and all related appliances which make possible the production of most
artistic fabrics; other courses are cast and wrought metal; furniture;
leather work; pottery; garden furniture in cement; mosaic; also the
Normal Art Courses, illustration; architectural drawing; modeling;
interior decoration; book binding. Classes are attended by men and
women, who pursue exactly the same studies. Graduates are sought to fill
lucrative positions as designers; artistic craftsmen; and art teachers.
DREXEL INSTITUTE, Thirty-second and Chestnut Streets. A day and evening
technical school of Art, Science, and Industry for men and women;
founded by Anthony J. Drexel, 1891; Renaissance, brick; architects,
Wilson Brothers. The leading American and European current periodicals
relating to art, science, and technology are in the library. Art Gallery
contains collections owned by John D. Lankenau, works by modern German
masters, and Anthony J. Drexel, works of International, contemporary,
modern painters. The Museum, open free 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. daily,
except Sundays, includes examples of Industrial Art and the Decorative
Arts of India, Egypt, China, Japan, and Europe.
GRAPHIC SKETCH CLUB, 719 Catharine Street, founded by Samuel S. Fleisher
in 1899, to provide, free, an art center which should give the culture
craved by many intelligent young people, to whom it had been denied by
circumstances. The Club House is open only at night, Saturday
afternoons, and all day Sundays. This is an Art Club in effect, as well
as name; rooms are artistically furnished in beautiful color harmonies,
and embellished with choice bronzes bought at our Academy exhibitions,
and fine porcelains. Students are educated in art, for the practical
good it will do them, and cultural growth; all are day workers. The
faculty is composed of well known artists; classes include portrait and
still life painting; illustration and sculpture. From this school have
gone some of the most original workers in the schools of the Academy of
the Fine Arts. Landscape classes are in session during the summer.
Lectures are given on art or musical topics. Membership in the Club is
attained by attendance in the classes for three years.
PUBLIC ART SCHOOL, Park Avenue and Master Street, founded by Charles G.
Leland, now under the direction of the Board of Public Education; open
to pupils in grammar grades of public schools. A course of study was
planned, including drawing, clay modeling, and wood carving, to train
students to originate design, and do the manual work as well, so that
the designer should be the artisan also.
ART CLUB, 220 South Broad Street. Annual exhibition of paintings and
sculpture, gold medal awarded; and special shows by individual artists.
ART JURY, City Hall, Philadelphia, created by Act of Legislature, 1907,
providing, “That in every city of first class, there shall be an Art
Jury, composed of the Mayor and eight others, of whom shall be, one
each, painter, sculptor, architect, and Park Commissioner, to pass upon
design and location of all buildings; bridges; arches; fountains; or
fixtures to be erected in the city.”
CITY PARKS ASSOCIATION, City Hall.
DARBY SCHOOL OF PAINTING, Fort Washington, Montgomery County. Outdoor
classes. Hugh H. Breckenridge, 10 South 18th Street, Philadelphia.
FAIRMOUNT PARK ART ASSOCIATION, organized, 1871. 320 S. Broad Street.
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF MINIATURE PAINTERS, organized, 1901. Annual fall
exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
PHILADELPHIA CHAPTER, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, 1301 Stephen
Girard Building; organized, 1869.
THE PHILADELPHIA SKETCH CLUB (men), 235 South Camac Street, organized,
1860. Annual fall exhibitions of members’ work; also special
exhibitions.
PHILADELPHIA WATER-COLOR CLUB, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
annual international exhibitions; also Traveling exhibitions of members’
work.
PLASTIC CLUB, women, 247 South Camac Street; organized, 1897. Annual and
special exhibitions; lectures, and sketch classes.
T-SQUARE CLUB, 204 South Quince Street, founded, 1881. Annual
architectural exhibition; drafting; decorative painting; modeling; and
architecture in coöperation with Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, New
York City.
The D’ASCENZO STUDIOS, for Stained Glass, 1604 Summer Street, founded
twenty years ago, include designing; painting; firing; and glazing; work
is begun and completed, in both modern and antique, with preference for
the antique school, for architectural fitness and conventionality; also
glass mosaic and mural decoration. D’Ascenzo’s art may be seen in many
important churches and buildings in this country; in the Chapel at
Valley Forge, and in Philadelphia may be mentioned St. Mark’s Protestant
Episcopal Church, Frankford; St. James’ Protestant Episcopal Church,
Twenty-second and Walnut Streets; St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church,
Twentieth and Locust Streets; Synagogue Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia.
WILLIAM WILLET AND ANNIE LEE WILLET STUDIOS, FOR STAINED GLASS, 226
South Eleventh Street, formerly of Pittsburgh. While all the world is
deploring the loss of the magnificent old glass in the cathedrals of
Europe, here the art of fused glass has been raised to such perfection
that their great windows have all that the old work has, of depth, glow,
and shadow, under modern conditions of stability; among their notable
windows are, the Sanctuary Window, West Point Military Chapel, New York;
Proctor Hall, the Graduate School, Princeton, New Jersey, great west
window; many in the churches and public buildings of Pittsburgh, Chicago
and elsewhere; in and near Philadelphia, in Summit Presbyterian Church,
Carpenter and West View Streets, Germantown; St. Michael’s Sanctuary
window, High Street, Germantown; John Chambers Memorial Church; The
Buchanan Memorial, St. Nathaniel’s Church, Kensington; the Harrison
Memorial; Holy Trinity Church, Nineteenth and Walnut; the Leta Sullivan
in the Assumption, Strafford.
Notable private art collections in Philadelphia, that may sometimes be
seen by writing for permit, which for variety and value, have few peers
are:
[Illustration: THE TRAGIC MUSE
From the Edward Hornor Coates Memorial Collection
_Painted by Violet Oakley_ _Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts_]
P. A. B. WIDENER’S, several hundred choice and rare paintings, mostly
masterpieces of great artists of the Renaissance, and modern.
The W. L. ELKINS; many fine examples of medieval and modern portraiture,
landscape and genre painting.
The JOHN MCFADDEN, best collection of solely eighteenth century English
paintings in this country.
The EDWARD T. STOTESBURY, masterpieces of the English School and
international contemporary art.
Should these collections accompany the WILSTACH, now in Memorial Hall,
to the Municipal Art Museum in Fairmount Park, now under construction,
it would begin its career with a wealth of paintings, more comprehensive
and valuable than any that ever inaugurated a similar institution, not
excepting the Louvre, Pitti, Dresden, National in London, and
Metropolitan, New York, which grew from small beginnings, thus placing
the highest products of art within equal and easy reach of all classes.
This Museum will constitute the central feature of a comprehensive plan
in progress, at the head of the Parkway, for a real art center, more
imposing in scale and impressive in its entire effect than any similar
art center in any American City. The PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE
ARTS has been granted a site facing the Fairmount Plaza, also the
PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM AND SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ART.
ARMY AND NAVY
THE FIRST CITY TROOP, Armory, Twenty-third Street, above Chestnut;
founded in 1778. An exclusive social organization. Oldest military
command in the United States in continuous active service; its
traditions of active service are as loyally preserved as its rights as
escort of the President, and other distinguished men. In the
Spanish-American War in 1898, “The Troop” was the first body of cavalry
landed at Porto Rico. The “Gentlemen of Philadelphia” met in
Independence Hall, November 17, 1774, and formed a company of cavalry
called, “The Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia”; they were
dismissed by Washington after the Revolution in 1778, and reorganized
immediately as the First City Troop; the Troop voted to give the
certificate of dismissal, signed by Washington, to their captain, Samuel
Morris; the paper is now in possession of the decendants of Elliston P.
Morris, of Germantown. FRANKFORD ARSENAL, Bridge and Tacony Streets;
local station, Bridesburg; open, free, daily, 7.45 A.M. to sunset.
Established, 1814; President Madison was at the opening exercises.
Lafayette stopped at the Arsenal in 1824. Here are complete small arms
cartridge factory equipment; artillery cartridge factory equipment; and
machine plant for the manufacture of inspecting instruments; sights for
cannon; range finders; and other instruments for fire control at the
fortifications, etc. PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD, League Island, about 1000
acres; junction of Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers; deeded to the
National Government by the City of Philadelphia in 1868. Open to the
public daily between 9.00 A.M. and 4.00 P.M. Established about 1794 on
the Delaware River front, at Prime Street. A large number of the old
wooden ships of the Navy were built here, such as the ships of the line,
_Franklin_, _Pennsylvania_ and _North Carolina_; frigates, _United
States_, _Raritan_, and _Guerriere_; sloops of war, _Vandalia_,
_Germantown_, and _Dale_; screw steamers, _Princeton_, _Wabash_, and
_Lancaster_; side wheel steamers, _Mississippi_ and _Susquehanna_. At
present there are two dry docks; shops employ 2000 men; three large
barrack buildings for the use of marines stationed at the Yard
accommodate 1400 men. Admiral Benson, former Commandant, considers this
the best Navy Yard in the Government’s possession, being in the center
of coal and iron industries, within short haul, both by rail and water,
for all material required by a great navy yard; its nearness to great
private shipyards on the Delaware provides skilled mechanics in the art
of ship-building, and the fresh water feature, being unique, is of great
importance; barnacles accumulated in salt water drop off in fresh water,
simply by docking here for short periods. There is also a large Reserve
Basin called the Back Channel, where ships out of commission can be laid
up until wanted. The berthing facilities may be indefinitely extended by
constructing additional sea wall and piers. FORT MIFFLIN, below mouth of
the Schuylkill, has casement dungeons, and earthen banks of early
warfare, and was prominent in the Revolutionary War; designed and built
by Major Louis de Tousard in 1798. Now, in the magazines, ammunition
from government battleships is stored, before they enter the Navy Yard;
the magazines are surrounded by poles, on each pole is a lightning rod.
UNITED STATES NAVAL ASYLUM, Gray’s Ferry Avenue below Bainbridge Street,
classic, marble; has Museum of Uniforms.
HISTORIC BURIAL GROUNDS
The earliest were connected with churches; some date almost from the
beginning of the city.
=Baptist.= BLOCKLEY CEMETERY, Meeting-House Lane, between Lancaster Avenue
and Haverford Street; ground given, 1804. Church is at Fifty-third
Street and Wyalusing Avenue. DUNKER, Germantown, on Germantown Avenue
above Sharpnack Street; oldest meeting-house of the German Baptists, or
Dunkers, in America; erected, 1770. Burial ground opened, 1793; in it
lie Alexander Mack, founder of the sect, and Harriet Livermore, the
“Pilgrim Stranger” of Whittier’s “Snow Bound.” MENNONITE, Germantown
Avenue above Herman Street; church was built, 1770; many early
Germantown settlers are buried in the yard. PENNYPACK, or LOWER DUBLIN,
Krewston Road near Pennypack Creek, one mile from Bustleton; here is
oldest Baptist church edifice in Pennsylvania, built about 1707; in the
old time graveyard are many curious moss covered tombstones.
=Friends.= When the graves are marked the stones are always small and
inconspicuous. FAIRHILL MEETING, Germantown Avenue and Cambria Street;
ground granted by William Penn; a large and beautiful old cemetery and
near “Fairhill,” the great Norris estate. THE MEETING HOUSE, Fourth and
Arch Streets, was built in 1804, but the ground was used for burials
many years before; it is one of the oldest cemeteries in Philadelphia.
Some of the most prominent citizens of very early days lie here with
nothing to mark their resting-place; it is computed that twenty thousand
persons are interred here.
=Jewish.= MIKVEH ISRAEL, on Spruce Street, near Ninth; ground was granted
to Nathan Levy by John Penn in 1738; here lies the beautiful Rebecca
Gratz, original of Rebecca in Scott’s “Ivanhoe.” In August, 1913, the
little burial ground was opened for the interment of her grandniece, the
first burial for thirty years. MOUNT SINAI, Frankford Avenue, near
Bridge Street, has imposing entrance, erected, 1854.
=Lutheran.= ST. MICHAEL’S, Germantown Avenue and Phil-Ellena Street, joins
the church built about 1730; a notable grave, with flat marble stone
resting on four columns, is that of Christopher Ludwig, “baker general”
to the American army during the Revolution.
=Methodist.= ST. PAUL’S, Catharine Street near Sixth. Church is now used
as an Italian mission; has a small graveyard.
=Presbyterian.= OF FIRST AND THIRD CHURCHES, Southwest corner of Fourth
and Pine Streets, First Church, Seventh and Locust Streets, has the
eastern section. When the First Church abandoned its old Market Street
site for the present locality, the bodies were moved whenever possible,
and many of the old headstones were inserted in the south wall of the
new graveyard. The Third Church, called “Old Pine,” divides the grounds,
using the west section; both are most interesting, with many people of
note interred, including David Rittenhouse; William Hurry, who is said
to have rung the Liberty Bell when proclaiming independence; Dr. William
Shippen, Director General of Hospitals during the war for Independence;
many Revolutionary soldiers; and Captain Charles Ross of the First City
Troop.