called "One of the most magnificent Victorian buildings in the country." The building's façade draws from a number of different historical styles, including Second Empire, Renaissance Revival and Gothic Revival, amalgamated in an "aggressively personal manner". The building's exterior coloration combines "rusticated brownstone, dressed sandstone, polished pink granite, red pressed brick, and purplish terra-cotta." It was the first structure in the U.S. specifically designed for fine arts instruction and exhibition in a consolidated facility.
The inside of the building is equally varied, combining "gilt floral patterns incised on a field of Venetian red; ... [a] cerulean blue ceiling sprinkled with silver stars", and plum, ochre, sand and olive green gallery walls. The building's structure combines brick, stone and iron; because of fire-proofing concerns, some of the iron i-beams were left uncovered.
==== 1876 opening notes ====
The book A Century After, picturesque glimpses of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania …
