Exterior restoration of a landmark

Designed by world-famous Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, the iconic Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library building is undergoing a major exterior renovation and restoration that will encase its red sandstone, terracotta, and brick exterior in scaffolding through the fall of 2026. The 134-year-old building on College Green will continue to be open for use throughout construction.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1985, the Victorian masterpiece is home to the Penn Libraries’ Fisher Fine Arts Library, the Arthur Ross Gallery, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, the Common Press Studio, and the Weitzman School of Design’s Architectural Archives.

Completed in 1891, the building is the third-oldest University-built structure in the core of campus, following College Hall (1871) and Claudia Cohen Hall (1873), says University architect Mark Kocent. “It is iconic on campus and a seminal building because it’s one of the most important pieces of architecture that Frank Furness did in his career,” and it has influenced many others, he says.

The primary goal of the restoration and renovation is to preserve the “exterior envelope” and prevent water infiltration, Kocent says. The project will repair and clean masonry; repoint brick, terra cotta, and sandstone; repair and replace roofing; repair, restore, and repaint the exterior and interior of windows and doors; and restore the leaded glass windows. It will also get new safety equipment and additional lightning protection.

Special attention will be paid to the unique curved apse that faces north, Kocent says. “It’s beautiful, and it’s a wonderful texture, but it’s a soft sandstone laid vertically, which means that layers naturally peel off from time to time,” a process called spalling. If anything needs replacement expert conservationists will work to match the original. “For a building of this quality and importance, it’s almost forensic.”

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In addition, the windows are wood, and the exteriors need continual attention. Many are leaded glass and are inscribed with aphorisms. “There are some unique windows at the top that have a lot of decorative work that are very unusual shapes,” Kocent says.

The principal architect for the work is VITETTA, now part of DRG Architects. The project manager is architect Nan Gutterman, who has been involved in restorations of several historic buildings in Philadelphia.

Constructed from 1889 to 1891, the Furness building was designed as Penn’s first library and subsequently had three additions: the Duhring Wing in 1916, the Henry Charles Lea Library reading room in 1924, and the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library, now the Arthur Ross Gallery, in 1931.

A full-scale renovation was undertaken from 1986 to 1991, completed on the 100th anniversary, by the Philadelphia architecture firm Venturi, Rauch, & Scott Brown, whose principal Denise Scott Brown graduated from Penn with a master’s degree in city planning in 1960. She joined the faculty and then later argued to save the building from demolition. Other renovations between 2003 and 2015 have included window and masonry repair and stabilization, as well as the Kleinman Center’s interior.

The majority of the current renovation work, which is primarily exterior, will take place in the warmer months, starting right after Commencement, which is why the scaffolding started going up in April, Kocent says. Some of the loudest work, like drilling and cutting, is scheduled for when the building has its lowest occupancy, he says. Work will go on hiatus in the colder months of winter, but the scaffolding will remain until the project is complete.