Penn's Fisher Fine Arts Library will undergo a $17.8 million facelift to restore the 133-year-old building to its original state.
The renovation, which will start in April and go until November 2026, will include new windows, roof repairs, lightning protection, safeguards for maintenance work and a thorough cleaning of its exterior, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. The library will remain open during construction with scaffolding around the outside, and the school doesn't have any planned closures related to the work.
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Penn announced the project at a Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 14. The group reportedly considered renovating only during the summer to avoid disturbances but ultimately decided that it wouldn't be enough time to ensure consistent, quality work.
The Fisher Fine Arts Library was designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and is one of Penn's most well-known structures. It was the primary library of the school when it opened in 1891 until 1962 and houses the Arthur Ross Gallery. The ornate building is made from sandstone, brick and terracotta, and it features Greek, Latin and other phrases on its stained-glass windows and around the interior.
In 1972, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and in 1985 it was declared a National Historic Landmark. And in October, Yardbarker included it on its list of the 20 most stunning libraries in the United States.
In addition to designing the Penn library, Furness was the supervising architect for the U.S. Treasury Department and founder of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He designed the current iteration of First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and a number of stations for Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Ohio railroads.
Furness was hired by his brother Horace Howard Furness, who was a Penn trustee, Shakespeare scholar, lecturer at the school and the chairman of the library's building committee. Horace selected most of the sayings around the building, many of which come from Shakespeare's plays.
Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System for organizing library books, also contributed to the library's plans.
The building has been renovated and restored a number of times since it opened. Expansions were added in 1916, 1922 and 1931, and a large restoration took place from 1986 to 1991, when it was renamed after principal donors Anne and Jerome Fisher. At the time, some windows were repaired, stones cleaned and reproductions of decorative copper finials on the roof were installed. Smaller construction projects took place in 2003, 2006, 2013 and 2015.