This building, which originally served as Penn's main library, was designed in 1888 by Frank Furness and is widely regarded as one of his masterpieces. It was Furness who first acknowledged in this building the dual character of the library by separating the monumental civic space for reading from the expandable utilitarian space for the storage of books — what came to be known as stacks. This building has now been restored to house the Fisher Fine Arts Library of the University of Pennsylvania and other archival and teaching spaces.

Fisher Fine Arts Library

The restoration began with a master plan study guided by a building committee comprised of architecture, art history, and historic preservation faculty, and library staff. The study focused on historical documentation, assessment of building conditions, and on evolving a program of restoration and reorganization of uses. The resulting plan reasserts the logic of the 1888 library plan and allows for growth of the Fisher Fine Arts Library and the Architectural Archives while meeting studio, teaching, and faculty office space needs for the Graduate School of Fine Arts.

Construction involved three phases beginning with exterior restoration in 1987. Renovations and exterior restoration of the bookstack building followed, including installation of modern environmental control, sprinkler, electrical, data, and security systems. The third phase involved restoration of the great interior spaces. The Main Reading Room leaded-glass skylight was restored while the 1922 mid-level floor insertion was removed, reestablishing a noble space possibly unsurpassed in the United States. Recreated historical lighting fixtures and custom furnishings, designed to recall lost Furness pieces, were installed in time for the centennial celebration of the completion of the building, February 7, 1991.

Awards:
Finalist Award, Cast-in-Place Concrete Systems, American Concrete Institute - Delaware Valley Chapter, 1993.
Honor Award, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., 1993.
Judges Award, Commerce Bank and Philadelphia Business Journal Building Excellence, 1992.
President's Historic Preservation Award Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1992.
Preservation Award, The Victorian Society in America, Philadelphia, PA, 1991.
Award for Adaptive Reuse/Renovation, Interiors Magazine, 1991.
Distinguished Building Award, The Pennsylvania Society of Architects, 1991.
Special Engineering Award for excellence in design conducting site cast concrete construction, Concrete Construction Committee of Philadelphia, 1991.
Merit Award, American Institute of Architects, Philadelphia Chapter, 1991.
Outstanding Preservation Award, The University City Historical Society, 1990.