West Philadelphia campus construction, 1872-1900, University of Pennsylvania

SEARCH | Archives HOME

WEST PHILADELPHIA CAMPUS 1872-1900

Buildings:

History of Title:

Other Penn campuses

More on Penn in the 19th Century

Print of President's House on Ninth Street converted for use as the University of Pennsylvania campus. Includes the rotunda added to the Medical School addition in 1817. Demolished 1829 for construction of twin buildings designed by William Strickland

Print of twin buildings designed by William Strickland for Penn's Ninth Street campus. Medical Hall is on the left, and College Hall on the right. Erected 1829. Print dates from 1842

Penn in the 19th Century

WEST PHILADELPHIA CAMPUS
First Decades of Construction, 1872-1900

Introduction:

Expanding student enrollment and changing curriculum led to the 1872 move of the University to West Philadelphia. Architect Thomas Webb Richards designed the first buildings on this campus: College Hall, Medical Hall (later Logan and then Claudia Cohen Hall), the original building of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Robert Hare Medical Laboratories. By 1900 the campus would include athletic fields and close to 30 buildings, including dormitories, a museum, a power plant and laundry, more hospitals and laboratories, and buildings for the new Veterinary, Dental and Engineering Departments.

Most were significant structures designed by architects such as George W. and W.D. Hewitt, Furness & Evans, Cope & Stewardson, Collins & Autenreith, Addison Hutton, the Wilson Brothers, Frank Miles Day, Wilson Eyre, and Edgar V. Seeler. A few, such as a dining hall and Eadweard Muybridge's photography studio, were meant to be temporary. Some buildings still stand, but others, even those of architectural significance, have since been replaced by more modern construction.

Penn in the 19th Century

SEARCH | Archives HOME