Memorial Hall served as the art gallery at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition.
Designed by architect Herman J. Schwarzmann, Memorial Hall was built in West Fairmount Park for the exposition. Its Beaux-Arts design used brick, glass, iron, and granite, with a prominent dome and four corner pavilions.
The building was intended to display paintings and sculpture, but the exposition received so many art contributions that an annex was needed. Nearly 10 million visitors passed through the fairgrounds between May and November 1876, making Memorial Hall one of the event’s most important cultural buildings.
After the exposition, Memorial Hall reopened in 1877 as part of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. The museum later became associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, although that institution moved to its present Parkway building in 1928. Memorial Hall is the only large exhibit building from the exposition that still survives on the original site.