The building is located west of the Schuylkill River, at the corner of East Memorial Hall Drive and the Avenue of the Republic.[2]
History
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.[3] 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 365 feet (111 m) by 210 feet (64 m) with basement and ground floor, and 150 feet (46 m) tall at the top of the building's most distinctive feature, an iron and glass dome. Surmounting the dome is the 23-foot-tall (7.0 m) 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.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6] The hall was one of over two hundred buildings constructed on the property of Fairmount Park to display exhibits.
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.[8][9]
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 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.
