Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

. Furness also received a

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

for bravery during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Toward the end of his life, his bold style fell out of fashion, and many of his significant works were demolished in the 20th century. Among his most important surviving buildings are the University of Pennsylvania Library (now the

Fisher Fine Arts Library The Fisher Fine Arts Library was the primary library of the University of Pennsylvania from 1891 to 1962. The red sandstone, brick-and-terra-cotta Venetian Gothic giant—part fortress and part cathedral—was designed by the acclaimed P ...

), the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, and the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, all in

, Pennsylvania, and the

Baldwin School The Baldwin School (simply referred to as Baldwin School or Baldwin) is a private school for girls in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1888 by Florence Baldwin. The school occupies a 19th-century resort hotel designed by ...

Residence Hall in Bryn Mawr.

Biography

Furness was born in Philadelphia on November 12, 1839. His father,

William Henry Furness William Henry Furness (April 20, 1802 – January 30, 1896) was an American clergyman, theologian, Transcendentalist, abolitionist, and reformer. Biography Furness was born in Boston, where he attended the Boston Latin School and developed a lif ...

, was a prominent Unitarian minister and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, and his brother,

Horace Howard Furness Horace Howard Furness (November 2, 1833 – August 13, 1912) was an American Shakespearean scholar of the 19th century. Life and career Horace Furness was the son of the Unitarian minister and abolitionist William Henry Furness (1802–1896), ...

, became America's outstanding Shakespeare scholar. Frank, however, did not attend a university and apparently did not travel to Europe. He began his architectural training in the office of

John Fraser John Fraser may refer to: Politics *John Simon Frederick Fraser (1765–1803), commanded the Fraser Fencibles in Ireland and was (M.P.) for Inverness-shire *John James Fraser (1829–1896), 5th Premier of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, 18 ...

, Philadelphia, in the 1850s. He attended the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

-inspired atelier of Richard Morris Hunt in New York from 1859 to 1861, and again in 1865, following his military service. Furness considered himself Hunt's apprentice and was influenced by Hunt's dynamic personality and accomplished, elegant buildings. He was also influenced by the architectural concepts of the French engineer Viollet-le-Duc and the British critic

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

Unitarian Church at Germantown, Philadelphia, by Newell, R

Furness's first commission, Germantown Unitarian Church (1866–67, demolished ca. 1928), was a solo effort, but in 1867, he formed a partnership with Fraser, his former teacher, and George Hewitt, who had worked in the office of

John Notman John Notman (22 July 18103 March 1865) was a Scottish-born American architect, who settled in Philadelphia. He is remembered for his churches, and for popularizing the Italianate style and the use of brownstone. Career Notman was born on 22 Jul ...

. The trio lasted less than five years, and its major commissions were Rodef Shalom Synagogue (1868–69, demolished) and the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion (1870–75, demolished). Following Fraser's move to Washington, D.C., to become supervising architect for the U.S. Treasury Department, the two younger men formed a partnership in 1871, and soon won the design competition for the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(1871–76).

worked briefly as a draftsman for Furness & Hewitt (June - November 1873), and his later use of organic decorative motifs can be traced, at least in part, to Furness. By the beginning of 1876, Furness had broken with Hewitt, and the firm carried only his name. Hewitt and his brother William formed their own firm, G.W. & W.D. Hewitt, and became Furness's biggest competitor. In 1881, Furness promoted his chief draftsman,

Allen Evans Allen Evans (December 8, 1849 – February 28, 1925) was an American architect and partner in the Philadelphia firm of Furness & Evans. His best known work may be the Merion Cricket Club. Biography He was the son of Dr. Edmund C. Evans (181 ...

, to partner (Furness & Evans); and, in 1886, did the same for four other long-time employees. The firm continued under the name Furness, Evans & Company as late as 1932, two decades after its founder's death.Michael J. Lewis, ''Frank Furness: Architecture and the Violent Mind'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2001). Furness was one of the most highly paid architects of his era, and a founder of the Philadelphia Chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

. Over his 45-year career, he designed more than 600 buildings, including banks, office buildings, churches, and synagogues. Nearly one-third of his commissions came from railroad companies. As chief architect of the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly call ...

, he designed about 130 stations and industrial buildings. For the Pennsylvania Railroad, he designed more than 20 structures, including the great Broad Street Station (demolished 1953) at Broad and Market Streets in Philadelphia. His 40 stations for the

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

included the ingenious 24th Street Station (demolished 1963) beside the Chestnut Street Bridge. His residential buildings included numerous mansions in Philadelphia and its suburbs, especially the

Philadelphia Main Line The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's once prestigious Main Line, it runs ...

and commissioned houses at the New Jersey seashore;

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

; Bar Harbor, Maine;

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

; New York state; and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois. Furness broke from dogmatic adherence to European trends, and juxtaposed styles and elements in a forceful manner. His strong architectural will is seen in the unorthodox way he combined materials: stone, iron, glass,

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

, and brick. And his straightforward use of these materials, often in innovative or technologically advanced ways, reflected Philadelphia's industrial-realist culture of the post–Civil War period.

Interior Design and Furniture by Furness

Desk, designed by Frank Furness, 1870-71, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Furness designed custom furniture for a number of his early residences and buildings. One notable commission was the 1870-1871 redesign of the interiors of elder brother Horace Howard Furness's city house, at the southwest corner of 7th & Locust Streets, Philadelphia. Work on HHF's library included elaborate Neo-Grec bookcases, a reliquary for a (supposed) death mask of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, and a Neo-Grec desk, now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. These pieces can be documented by drawings in Furness's sketchbooks and a letter in HHF's papers: ''"These bookcases were placed in position this day—February 18th 1871. They were designed by Capt. Frank Furness, and made by

Daniel Pabst Daniel Pabst (June 11, 1826 – July 15, 1910) was a German-born American cabinetmaker of the Victorian Era. He is credited with some of the most extraordinary custom interiors and hand-crafted furniture in the United States. Sometimes working i ...

…"'' In 1873, Furness designed interiors and furniture for the Manhattan city house of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., father of the future president. Although the house was demolished, Furness/Pabst furniture from it survives at Sagamore Hill, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, and the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

, in Atlanta. Furness designed bookcases and a suite of table and armchairs for the boardroom of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, along with the lectern for its auditorium. Manufacture of these is attributed to Pabst. A 1875-1876 PAFA boardroom armchair is in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, in London.

Military service

During the Civil War, Furness served as captain and commander of Company F, 6th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry ("Rush's Lancers"). He received the

for his gallantry at the

Battle of Trevilian Station The Battle of Trevilian Station (also called Trevilians) was fought on June 11–12, 1864, in Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Union cavalry under Maj. ...

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Captain, Company F, 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Place and date: At Trevilian Station, Virginia, June 12, 1864. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth:------. Date of issue: October 20, 1899. Citation:

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Captain (Cavalry) Frank Furness, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 12 June 1864, while serving with Company F, 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, in action at Trevilian Station, Virginia. Captain Furness voluntarily carried a box of ammunition across an open space swept by the enemy's fire to the relief of an outpost whose ammunition had become almost exhausted, but which was thus enabled to hold its important position.Wittenberg, 2000.

Gettysburg monument

Twenty-five years after fighting in the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

, he designed the monument to his regiment on South Cavalry Field:

In design it is a simple granite block, as massive as a dolmen, but surrounded by a corona of bronze lances that are models of the original lances. ... '' 'hey are depicted in a resting position, as if waiting to be seized at any instant and brought into battle. The sense of suspended action before the moment of the battle is all the more potent because it is rendered in stone and metal, making it perpetual. Of the hundreds of monuments at Gettysburg, Furness's is among the most haunting.

Personal

Furness married Fanny Fassit in 1866, and they had four children: Radclyffe, Theodore, James, and Annis Lee. His brother-in-law, James Wilson Fassitt Jr. (1850–1892), became an architect in Furness's firm, and was promoted to partner in 1886. Frank Furness died on June 27, 1912, at " Idlewild," his summer house outside Media, and was buried at

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...

Rediscovery

Following decades of neglect, during which many of Furness's most important buildings were demolished, there was a revival of interest in his work in the mid-20th century. The critic

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

, tracing the creative forces that had influenced

and

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, wrote in ''The Brown Decades'' (1931): "Frank Furness was the designer of a bold, unabashed, ugly, and yet somehow healthily pregnant architecture." The architectural historian

Henry-Russell Hitchcock Henry-Russell Hitchcock (1903–1987) was an American architectural historian, and for many years a professor at Smith College and New York University. His writings helped to define the characteristics of modernist architecture. Early life He ...

, in his comprehensive survey ''Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'' (revised 1963), saw beauty in that ugliness: Architect and critic

Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...

in ''Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture'' (1966) wrote, not unadmiringly, of the National Bank of the Republic (later the Philadelphia Clearing House):

The city street facade can provide a type of juxtaposed contradiction that is essentially two-dimensional. Frank Furness' Clearing House, now demolished like many of his best works in Philadelphia, contained an array of violent pressures within a rigid frame. The half-segmental arch, blocked by the submerged tower which, in turn, bisects the facade into a near duality, and the violent adjacencies of rectangles, squares, lunettes, and diagonals of contrasting sizes, compose a building seemingly held up by the buildings next door: it is an almost insane short story of a castle on a city street.

On the occasion of its centennial in 1969, the Philadelphia Chapter of the

memorialized Furness as its 'great architect of the past':

For designing original and bold buildings free of the prevalent Victorian academicism and imitation, buildings of such vigor that the flood of classical traditionalism could not overwhelm them, or him, or his clients ... For shaping iron and concrete with a sensitive understanding of their particular characteristics that was unique for his time ... For his significance as innovator-architect along with his contemporaries
John Root John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891) was an American architect who was based in Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School (architecture), Chicago School style. Two of his buildings hav ...
,
Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...
and
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
... For his masterworks, the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
, the Provident Trust Company, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Station, and the University of Pennsylvania Library (now renamed the Furness Building) ... For his outstanding abilities as draftsman, teacher and inventor ... For being a founder of the Philadelphia Chapter and of the John Stewardson Memorial Scholarship in Architecture ... And above all, for creating architecture of imagination, decisive self-reliance, courage, and often great beauty, an architecture which to our eyes and spirits still expresses the unusual personal character, spirit and courage for which he was awarded the Congressional
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...
for bravery on a Civil War battlefield.

File:ProvidentTrust.jpg, Provident Life & Trust Company, Philadelphia (1879, demolished 1959–60). File:Furness National Bank of the Republic.jpg, National Bank of the Republic (later Philadelphia Clearing House), Philadelphia (1883–84, demolished). File:B&OPassengerStationPhiladelphia.jpg, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Philadelphia (1886–88, demolished 1963).

Legacy

Furness designed custom interiors and furniture in collaboration with Philadelphia cabinetmaker

. Examples are in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the University of Pennsylvania; the

in Atlanta, Georgia; the

in London, and elsewhere. Mark-Lee Kirk's set designs for the 1942

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

film ''

The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fict ...

'' seem to be based on Furness's ornate Neo-Grec interiors of the 1870s. A fictional desk designed by Furness is featured in the

John Bellairs John Anthony Bellairs (January 17, 1938 – March 8, 1991) was an American author best known for his fantasy novel '' The Face in the Frost'' and many Gothic mystery novels for children featuring the characters Lewis Barnavelt, Rose Rita Potti ...

novel ''The Mansion in the Mist''. Furness's independence and modernist Victorian-Gothic style inspired 20th-century architects

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...

and

. Living in Philadelphia and teaching at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, they often visited Furness's

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

— built for the 1876 Centennial — and his University of Pennsylvania Library. In 1973, the Philadelphia Museum of Art mounted the first retrospective of Furness's work, curated by James F. O'Gorman, George E. Thomas and Hyman Myers. Thomas, Jeffrey A. Cohen and Michael J. Lewis authored ''Frank Furness: The Complete Works'' (1991, revised 1996), with an introduction by

. Lewis wrote the first biography: ''Frank Furness: Architecture and the Violent Mind'' (2001). The 2012 centenary of Furness's death was observed with exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, the

Library Company of Philadelphia The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a library, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of hist ...

, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the

Delaware Historical Society The Delaware Historical Society began in 1864 as an effort to preserve documents from the Civil War. Since then, it has expanded into a statewide historical institution with several buildings, including Old Town Hall and the Delaware History Muse ...

, the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, and elsewhere. On September 14, a Pennsylvania state historical marker was dedicated in front of Furness's boyhood home at 1426 Pine Street, Philadelphia (now

Peirce College Peirce College is a private college in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It focuses on adult learners. History In 1865, Thomas May Peirce, a Philadelphia educator, founded the Union Business College. The curriculum was designed to provide returni ...

Alumni Hall). Opposite the marker is Furness's 1874-75 dormitory addition to the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, now the Furness Residence Hall of the University of the Arts.

Selected architectural works

Philadelphia buildings

*Northern Savings Fund Society Building, 1871–72, with George Hewitt. *

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, Broad & Cherry Streets, 1871–76, with George Hewitt. *Parish House, Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany, 330 South 13th Street, c. 1875, with George Hewitt. *

Thomas Hockley House The Thomas Hockley House (1875) is a Victorian city house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed by architect Frank Furness. Located west of Rittenhouse Square, it is a contributing property in the Walnut–Chancellor Historic District. Histo ...

, 21st & St. James Streets, 1875. *Gatehouses, Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, 1875–76. *

Centennial National Bank The Centennial National Bank is a historic building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by noted Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and significant in his artistic development, it was built in 1876 as the headquarters of the eponymous bank ...

, 33rd & Market Streets, 1876. Now Paul Peck Alumni Center, Drexel University. *Kensington National Bank, Girard & Frankford Aves., 1877 (Now a branch of Wells Fargo). * St. Stephen's Episcopal Church transept and vestry room, 19 S 10th Street, 1879. * Knowlton (William H. Rhawn mansion), Rhawn Street & Verree Road, 1881. * Gravers Lane Station, 200 E Gravers Lane, Chestnut Hill, 1882. Philadelphia & Reading Company * Mount Airy Station, E Gowen Ave & Devon St, Mount Airy, 1882. Philadelphia & Reading Company *

Undine Barge Club Undine Barge Club is an amateur rowing club located at #13 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The club was founded in 1856. Undine was not initially listed as a founder of the S ...

, #13

Boathouse Row Boathouse Row is a historic site located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of 15 boathouses housing social and ro ...

, 1882–83. * First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, 2125 Chestnut Street, 1885. * University of Pennsylvania Library, 34th Street, 1891. Now the Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library. *Mortuary Chapel, Mount Sinai Cemetery (Frankford), 1891–92. *

Horace Jayne House Horace Jayne House (1895) is an architecturally significant building designed by architect Frank Furness in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at the southwest corner of 19th and Delancey Streets, about a block south of Rittenhouse Square. ...

, 19th & Delancey Streets, 1895. *Girard Trust Bank, Broad & Chestnut Streets, 1907 (now

The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia is a luxury hotel and residential complex in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises three adjoining buildings: the Girard Trust Bank, at the northwest corner of South Broad & Chestnut Str ...

) constructed for the

Girard Trust Company Girard Bank was a Philadelphia-based bank founded after the death of Stephen Girard in 1831 by local merchants eager to trade on the sterling reputation of their namesake. Stephen Girard neither founded the bank, nor had any financial ties to the ...

. *Henry's home, sole surviving building of the demolished Thomas and H. Pratt McKean townhouses, 1923 Walnut St., 1869. *

, Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, 1882. *

Wayne Junction station Wayne Junction station is a SEPTA Regional Rail junction station located at 4481 Wayne Avenue, extending along Windrim Avenue to Germantown Avenue. The station is located in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Wayne Junction serves as a ...

, 4481 Wayne Avenue.

Demolished Philadelphia buildings

*Germantown Unitarian Church, 1866-67 *Rodef Shalom Synagogue, 1868–69. *Thomas and H. Pratt McKean townhouses, 1923-25 Walnut St., 1869, demolished 1897 and 1920s. *Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 1870–75. *Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company, 1875. *Brazilian Section, Main Exhibition Building,

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

(1876). *Church of the Redeemer for Seamen and their Families, 1878. * Provident Life & Trust Company, 1879. *Library Company of Philadelphia Building, 1879–80. * Reliance Insurance Company Building, 1881–82. *National Bank of the Republic (later Philadelphia Clearing House), 1883–84. * Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station (24th Street Station), 1886–88. *The Cottage at the

Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, also known as Kirkbride's Hospital or the Pennsylvania Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases, was a psychiatric hospital located at 48th and Haverford Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It oper ...

, c 1888 *Franklin Sugar Refinery, 125 S 12th Street, c. 1895. * Alexander J. Cassatt townhouse, 202 West Rittenhouse Square, c. 1888. * Broad Street Station, Pennsylvania Railroad, 1892–93. *Arcade Building and pedestrian bridge to Broad Street Station, 1901–02.

Buildings elsewhere

Railroad Stations

* Wallingford Station, Wallingford, Pennsylvania, c. 1880. * Manheim Station, Manheim, Pennsylvania, 1881, Philadelphia & Reading Company. *East Strasburg Station,

Petersburg, Pennsylvania Petersburg is a borough in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was a stop on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line between Tyrone and Huntingdon and the junction point for the Petersburg Branch. The population was 480 at the 2 ...

, 1882, Philadelphia & Reading Company, moved to Strasburg Railroad. *Sunbury Station,

Sunbury, Pennsylvania Sunbury is a city and county seat of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, just downstream of the confluence of its main and west ...

, 1883, Philadelphia & Reading Company. * Aberdeen Station,

Aberdeen, Maryland Aberdeen is a city located in Harford County, Maryland, United States, northeast of Baltimore. The population was 16,254 at the 2020 United States Census. Aberdeen is the largest municipality in Harford County. Aberdeen is part of the Baltimor ...

, 1885,

. * B&O Station, Pittsburgh,

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, Pennsylvania, 1887, demolished 1955, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. * Lansdowne Station,

Lansdowne, Pennsylvania Lansdowne is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, located southwest of the Center City Philadelphia. It was named for the Marquess of Lansdowne. As of the 2010 census the borough had a population of 10,620. Lansdowne grew quickly in the ...

, 1901, Pennsylvania Railroad. *Edgewood Station, Edgewood, Pennsylvania, 1903, Pennsylvania Railroad. *Sherwood Station,

Riderwood, Maryland Ruxton and Riderwood are unincorporated communities in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. They are sometimes considered a part of Towson and are part of Towson's census area. The boundaries of Ruxton have been established largely by local ...

, 1905,

Northern Central Railway The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, whe ...

=Wilmington, Delaware

= Three buildings in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, reputed to be the largest grouping of Furness-designed railroad buildings, form the Frank Furness Railroad District. * Water Street Station,

, ca. 1887. * Pennsylvania Railroad Building, 1905. * French Street Station (Wilmington Station), Pennsylvania Railroad (now

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

), 1908.

Residences

*Grubb Cottage (E. Burd Grubb Estate), Burlington, New Jersey, 1872 *Lindenshade (

house), Wallingford, Pennsylvania, 1873 (demolished 1940). *Fairholme ( Fairman Rogers mansion),

, 1874–1875. Its carriage house is now Jean and David W. Wallace Hall,

Salve Regina University Salve Regina University is a private Roman Catholic university in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was founded in 1934 by the Sisters of Mercy and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The university enrolls m ...

. *George Fryer cottage,

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...

, 1871–72; rebuilt after fire, 1878–79. * Emlen Physick house,

, 1879. * Fairview, near

Delaware City, Delaware Delaware City is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 1,695 at the 2010 census. It is a small port town on the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and is the location of the Forts Ferry Cros ...

(1880 alterations). Furness added a third story and rear wing to an 1822 farmhouse. *

Dolobran Dolobran is a Shingle style architecture, Shingle Style house at 231 Laurel Lane in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was designed by architect Frank Furness for shipping magnate Clement Griscom in 1881, and was expanded at least twice by Furness. The h ...

( Clement A. Griscom mansion),

Haverford, Pennsylvania Haverford is an unincorporated community located in both Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, approximately west of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) ope ...

, 1881, circa-1888, 1894. *

Lotta Crabtree Cottage The Lotta Crabtree Cottage (1885-86) is a Shingle style house in the Breslin Park neighborhood of Mount Arlington, New Jersey. Designed by the noted Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, it is a contributing property in Mount Arlington Historic ...

Mount Arlington, New Jersey Mount Arlington is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 5,050,Idlewild (Frank Furness house), Idlewild Lane,

Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolita ...

(c. 1888). *Ragged Edge (Col. Moorhead Kennedy house), Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 1900–1901.

Schools

* Williamson College of the Trades (formerly ''Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades''),

Elwyn, Pennsylvania Elwyn is an unincorporated community located in Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA. Elwyn has a latitude of 39.907N, longitude of -75.41W and an elevation of 253 feet above sea level. Elwyn is home to Elwyn Inc., a facility c ...

, original campus buildings, completed in 1889–90. *

The Baldwin School The Baldwin School (simply referred to as Baldwin School or Baldwin) is a private school for girls in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1888 by Florence Baldwin. The school occupies a 19th-century resort hotel designed by ...

(built as the second Bryn Mawr Hotel),

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh language, Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, Radnor Township and Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township in Delaw ...

, 1890. *Recitation Hall,

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Uni ...

, 1891. *

Haverford School , motto_translation = , address = 450 Lancaster Avenue , location = , region = , city = Haverford , county = , state = Pennsylvania , ...

, 1902.

Churches

*All Hallows Church,

Wyncote, Pennsylvania Wyncote is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It borders the northwestern and northeastern section of Philadelphia. Wyncote is located 11 miles from Center City Philadelphia at the southeaster ...

, 1897. *Church of Our Father, Hull's Cove, Mount Desert Island, Maine, 1890–91. * St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church,

Birdsboro, Pennsylvania Birdsboro is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located along the Schuylkill River southeast of Reading. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 5,163. Birdsboro's economy had historically been rooted in large f ...

, 1884–85.

Other

*New Castle Public Library,

New Castle, Delaware New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 5,285. History New Castl ...

, 1892 (now Old Library Museum, New Castle Historical Society). *Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry (Rush's Lancers) Monument, Gettysburg Battlefield,

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

, 1888. *

Merion Cricket Club Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans, who was also a founder ...

(

, Furness's partner, is credited with the design), 1896–97.Merion Cricket Club
at the Historic American Buildings Survey.

Gallery

File:22nd & Walnut, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, Thomas and H. Pratt McKean Townhouses, 1923-25 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1869, demolished 1897 and 1920s). File:Lindenshade.jpg, Lindenshade (

house), Wallingford, Pennsylvania (c. 1873, demolished 1940). A country house built for the architect's brother, it was later greatly expanded. File:HockleyHouse.jpg, Thomas Hockley house, 235 S. 21st St., Philadelphia (1875), Furness & Hewitt. File:Philadelphia Zoo entrance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA-27June2010.jpg, Gatehouses,

Philadelphia Zoo The Philadelphia Zoo, located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, is the first true zoo in the United States. It was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, but its openin ...

, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia (1875–76, altered), Furness & Hewitt. File:WTP A03 dthomsen8 1.jpg,

, Philadelphia (1876), now Paul Peck Alumni Center, Drexel University. File:Brazilian section, Main building, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views 2.jpg, Brazilian Section, Main Exhibition Building,

, Philadelphia (1876). File:Cooks Villa 2 CMHD.JPG, J. F. Fryer cottage,

(1878–79). The pierced-tile inserts in the railings are believed to have come from the Japanese Pavilion at the

1876 Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

. File:Wallingford Station.JPG, Wallingford Station, Wallingford, Pennsylvania (c. 1880).

's country house, Lindenshade, stood on the hill behind the station. File:Knowlton.JPG, Knowlton (William H. Rhawn mansion), Northeast Philadelphia (1881). File:Dolobran Montco PA 03.JPG,

( Clement A. Griscom mansion), Haverford, Pennsylvania (1881, circa 1888, 1894). File:RelianceInsurance.jpg, Reliance Insurance Company of Philadelphia (1881–82, demolished 1960). File:Undine2010.jpg,

,
#13

, Philadelphia (1882–83). File:First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, 2125 Walnut Street.jpg, First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia (1886). File:B&OStationFromEast.jpg, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Philadelphia (1886–88, demolished 1963), looking west from 24th Street. File:B&OWaitingroomStair.jpg, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Philadelphia (1886–88, demolished 1963), stairs from Lower Waiting Room. File:BO1911.JPG, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Pittsburgh (1887, demolished 1955). File:Furness Idlewild.JPG, Idlewild, Media, Pennsylvania (1888). Furness's own country house is reminiscent of his University of Pennsylvania Library. File:CassattHouse.jpg, Alexander J. Cassatt townhouse, 202 West Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia (altered by Furness c. 1888, demolished 1972). File:Jayne House Philly.JPG,

, 19th & Delancey Sts., Philadelphia (1895). The grandest of his surviving city houses, Mrs. Jayne was Furness's niece Caroline. File:MerionCricket.jpg,

, Haverford, Pennsylvania (1896–97). Allen Evans was a founding member of the club, and probably designed all its buildings. File:ArcadeBuilding.jpg, Arcade Building and pedestrian bridge to Broad Street Station, Philadelphia (1901–02, demolished 1969). File:GirardTrust.jpg, Girard Trust Company Building, Philadelphia (1907), (now

). The concept for the bank was Furness's, but it was designed by Allen Evans and the New York firm of

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), ...

. File:Williamson Free Trade School.JPG, Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades campus (1890), (Rowan Hall shown) Middletown Township, Pennsylvania. File:Graver Lane SEPTA.JPG, Graver's Lane Station, Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, Philadelphia (1882).

Notes

References

Sources

*Lewis, Michael J., ''Frank Furness: Architecture and the Violent Mind'', 2001. *O'Gorman, James F., et al., ''The Architecture of Frank Furness''. Philadelphia Museum of Art; 1973. *Thayer, Preston, ''The Railroad Designs of Frank Furness: Architecture and Corporate Imagery in the Late Nineteenth Century'', University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Ph.D. dissertation), 1993. *Thomas, George E., Jeffrey A. Cohen & Michael J. Lewis, ''Frank Furness: The Complete Works''. Princeton Architectural Press, revised edition 1996. *Venturi, Robert, ''Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture''. The Museum of Modern Art; 1966. *

External links

Project List - Furness, Evans & Co.
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
Project List - Frank Furness
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings {{DEFAULTSORT:Furness, Frank 1839 births 1912 deaths 19th-century American architects American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor Architects from Philadelphia Baltimore and Ohio Railroad people Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Defunct architecture firms based in Pennsylvania Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Furness family Pennsylvania Railroad people People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War American railway architects Union Army soldiers United States Army Medal of Honor recipients

Biography

Interior Design and Furniture by Furness

Military service

Medal of Honor citation

Gettysburg monument

Personal

Rediscovery

Legacy

Selected architectural works

Philadelphia buildings

Demolished Philadelphia buildings

Buildings elsewhere

Railroad Stations

=Wilmington, Delaware

Residences

Schools

Churches

Other

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links