Unattributed "Memorial Hall International Exhibit"

Unattributed. "Memorial Hall International Exhibit." A/A.

Philadelphia: Centennial Gazette and Journal of the Exhibit, ca. 1874. 22 1/2 x 28 1/2. Chromolithograph finished by hand. Very good condition. 

Memorial Hall was one of the only two large exhibition halls designed to be permanent. This structure, designed by Hermann J. Schwarzmann, still stands in Fairmount Park and is today the Please Touch Museum.  It became the only surviving building when Agricultural Hall had to be torn down because of hurricane damage in 1954.  During the Centennial the building was used as an art gallery.  It housed the forerunner to the Philadelphia Museum of Art prior to the construction of the new gallery on top of the old Fairmount Waterworks reservoir.  With its enormous dome, sculptural ornamentation and grand arches, Memorial Hall was indeed one of the most ceremonial and imposing buildings of the Centennial.