Frank Furness may be Philly’s premier Victorian architect, designing hundreds of buildings and influencing America’s next generation of architects, but these are not the light, frilly buildings often associated with Victorian architecture. Frank Furness’s style is much more substantial, although no less ornate, and the best place to appreciate his style is at the 1876 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts: American Art & Victorian Splendor):
Sadly, many of Furness’s buildings have been lost over the years, but there are still plenty of his beauties left in Philadelphia, including: The Fisher Fine Arts Library, part of the University of Pennsylvania, which has a small, free art museum (photo ID required for entry):
The Peck Alumni Center, formerly the Centennial National Bank, now part of Drexel University (occasionally open to the public for exhibitions):
Undine Barge Club on Boathouse Row:
The Horace & Caroline Jayne House at 320 S.19th Street. Caroline was Furness’s niece:
The Thomas Hockley House at 235 S 21st Street. Hockley was a friend and early supporter of Furness:
This carriage house at 1317 Irving Street:
The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia at 2125 Chestnut Street. Furness’s design is actually the congregation’s third building. Furness’s father was an abolitionist and minister here here for over 50 years.
Furness also designed the gatehouses that stand in front of the zoo.
Today, Furness’s boyhood home at 1426 Pine Street is marked with a plaque and is directly across the street from the dormitory addition he built for the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb (now the Furness Residence Hall of the University of the Arts):
In addition to his buildings, Furness also designed interiors and furniture, such as this elaborate desk from The Philadelphia Museum of Art and desk from The Met in NY:
Visitors to the Jersey Shore can tour Furness’s 1879 wooden stick-style Physick house, still filled with many original Furness designed details and furniture.
Furness is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery (Exploring Philly’s Victorian Cemetery: Laurel Hill).
Secrets of Philadelphia 