in 2025, the academy will cease offering degrees except bachelor's degrees in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania.
== History ==
=== 19th century ===
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, and other artists and business leaders. Its first building on Chestnut and 10th Streets in Center City Philadelphia was designed by John Dorsey and opened in 1806. The academy opened as a museum in 1807 and held its first exhibition in 1811, where more than 500 paintings and statues were displayed. The first school classes held in the building were with the Society of Artists in 1810.
The academy had to be reconstructed after the fire of 1845. The new building by architect Richard Arthington Gilpin opened in 1847 and was demolished in 1870, following damage by a storm. The leaders of the academy then raised funds to construct a building more worthy of its treasures. They commissioned the current Furness-Hewitt building, …
