Ruins of museum building. Ninth below Chestnut Street. [graphic].
Title
Ruins of museum building. Ninth below Chestnut Street
Description
Photograph depicting the fire ruins of the Philadelphia Museum known as the Chinese Museum built circa 1836-1838 after the designs of Isaac Holden at Ninth and Sansom Streets. Shows partial fragments of the brick walls left standing. Bricks and debris are visible on the ground. The Museum served as an exhibition space, including the display of Nathan Dunn's Chinese artifact collection, and as a concert, public meeting, and lecture space until razed by fire on July 5, 1854., Title from Poulson inscription., Date inferred from content., Attributed to Richards & Betts., Originally part of a series of eleven scrapbooks compiled by Philadelphia antiquarian Charles A. Poulson in the late 1850s entitled "Illustrations of Philadelphia" unidentified volume, page 13b. The scrapbooks contained approximately 120 photographs by Philadelphia painter and pioneer photographer Richards of 18th-century public, commercial, and residential buildings in the city of Philadelphia commissioned by Poulson to document the vanishing architectural landscape, Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Reproduced in Kenneth Finkel's Nineteenth century photography in Philadelphia (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. in cooperation with the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1980), entry #158., Reproduced in The Print and Photograph Department of the Library Company of Philadelphia's Center City Philadelphia in the 19th century (Portsmouth, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), p. 14., Arcadia caption text: The Chinese Museum, built 1836-1838 after the designs of English architect Isaac Holden, was a veritable multi-use venue. The two-story marble building exhibited Nathan Dunn’s impressive collection of wax figures dressed in authentic Chinese clothing set amidst Chinese furniture, decorations, and rooms along with the Philadelphia Museum Company’s holdings of artist Charles Willson Peale’s collection of paintings, bones, stuffed animals, and curiosities. Between 1842 and 1844 both museums left the building due to decreased attendance and profits, but the space at the northeast corner of Ninth and Sansom streets capable of holding 8,000 people continued to host balls, political conventions, plays, lectures, public meetings, and exhibitions, such as the Exhibition of American Manufactures sponsored by the Franklin Institute, pictured above in October 1844. The smoldered remains of the building are shown below, after a devastating fire destroyed it on July 5, 1854., Richards & Betts was a partnership between Frederick DeBourg Richards and John Betts circa 1854-1857.
Creator
Richards & Betts, photographer
Date
July 1854
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - Richards - Fires [(5)2526.F.13b]