Wagner Free Institute of Science
The Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum at 1700 West Montgomery Avenue in north Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, it is a rare surviving example of a Victorian era scientific society, with a museum, research center, library, and educational facilities. Its buildings, developed between 1859 and 1901, present the collections of founder William Wagner in the style of the period, and have been designated a National Historic Landmark for their architecture and state of preservation.
Wagner Free Institute of Science
Teller magician in vitro at the Wagner Free Institute of Science
Second-floor Hall and galleries.
John McArthur Jr. (1823–1890) was a prominent American architect based in Philadelphia. Best remembered as the architect of the landmark Philadelphia City Hall, McArthur also designed some of the city's most ambitious buildings of the Civil War era. Few of his buildings survive.
An 1860 illustration of McArthur
Upon its completion, Philadelphia City Hall, built between 1874 and 1901, was the tallest occupied building in the world and the world's third-tallest building structure after the Washington Monument, which is 7 feet / 2.1 meters taller, and the Eiffel Tower, which is 515 feet / 157 meters taller. It remains the world's tallest all-masonry occupied building.
Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia (1859-65)
First National Bank building, now Science History Institute, Philadelphia
