Period Rooms at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

What are Period Rooms?

Period rooms, in a nutshell, are immersive interior spaces meant to represent a particular period of time by combining architectural elements, furniture, and decorative art objects. Some rooms represent individual, real rooms that once existed elsewhere, while others are pastiches of various elements combined and harmonized into a unified experience.

What are Architectural Elements?

Architectural elements, such as this Chimneypiece made by George Brookshaw, are the component parts and details like moldings, doorways, stonework, and other building materials that form the architectural style of houses, buildings and structures. While some assemblages of these details together would not in and of themselves constitute a period room per se, assemblages of these elements form several "themed" rooms at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and bear noting in this guide. Note that not all architectural elements in the museum's collection are listed here.

Period Rooms and Architectural Elements at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Period rooms at the Philadelphia Museum of Art belong to two phases. Those acquired during the tenure of Director Fiske Kimball were part of his program of using historic interiors to display collections in the museum’s 1928 building, drawing upon precedents at 19th-century Philadelphia expositions and the museum’s first home in Memorial Hall. "If our public is to enjoy and gain in appreciation and if our designers are to be inspired by the achievements of the past, it will be first of all through the careful assembly and display of objects representing a common quality of design brought into artistic relationship, rather than by large collections of specialized material that tell a story only to the student," Professor Charles R. Richards noted in his 1927 work Industrial Art and the Museum, describing the purpose of period rooms (a philosophy which Fiske Kimball drew upon heavily). "One of the happiest possibilities in this connection lies in the use of original rooms or authentic wall settings, in which may be displayed related material with little distinction between fine arts and decorative arts. Such backgrounds lend vividness and color and, by allowing the furnishings displayed to be seen in their proper setting, make possible a unity of impression to be gained in no other way."

The original installation plan for the rooms was to be as follows, numbered according to the plan above:

• Room 1: American XIX Century: Room from Derby House, Salem, Adam style, 1800.
• Room 2: American XVIII Century: Great Drawing Room from the Powel House, Philadelphia, Chippendale style, 1768.
• Rooms 3 and 4: American XVIII Century: Rooms from the Mueller House, Millbach, Pennsylvania-German.
• Room 5: English XVIII Century: Room from the Treaty House, Upminster. Early Georgian, 1745.
• Room 6: English XVIII Century: Room from Tower Hill, London, Chippendale style, 1760.
• Rooms 7 to 10: English XVIII Century: Rooms from Sutton-Scarsdale and from Wrightington Hall, 1714–1754.
• Room 11: French XIX Century: style of Bing, to house glass of Lalique and Gallé, ceramics of Delaherche, etc.
• Room 12: French XVIII Century: Directoire, Panelling entire.
• Room 13: French XVIII Century: Louis XVI, Panelling entire.
• Room 14: French XVIII Century: Louis XV (Régence Period). A superb example.
• Room 15: French XVII Century: Louis XIV, Panelling entire.
• Room 16: French XVI Century: Doorways, chimney piece, ceiling.
• Room 17: Dutch XVII Century: Doorways, chimney piece, ceiling.
• Room 18: Flemish XV–XVI Centuries: Doorways, chimney piece, ceiling.
• Room 19: Spanish XVII Century: Doorway and ceiling
                   Spanish XV Century: Doorway, ceiling and balcony.
• Room 20: German XVI Century: Doorways, chimney piece, ceiling.
• Room 21: Late Italian, XVII Century: Entire.
• Room 22: Early Italian XV Century: Doorways, chimney piece, ceiling.
• Room 23: Late Gothic, French XV Century: Panelling entire.
• Room 24: Late Gothic XIV–XV Centuries: Doorways, windows, etc.
• Room 25: Gothic chapel, French XIII Century: Entire.
• Room 26: Romanesque columns and capitals, twelve in number.
• Room 27: Romanesque triple portal, French XII Century: magnificent and unique example.
• Room 28: Romanesque cloister of marble, French XII Century. Extraordinary opportunity.
• Room 29: Byzantine chapel, screen, columns, mosaics, etc.
• Room 30: Persia and Asia Minor: Tile Mihrabs, doorways, etc.
                   Wood interiors, doors, grilles.
• Room 31: India: wood interiors, house fronts, doorways, etc.
• Room 32: South India: stone doorways, etc.
• Room 33: Japanese: wood interiors partition screens, etc.
• Room 34: Chinese: wood temple interior, pillars, doorways, windows.
• Room 35: Chinese: tile and faience doorways, etc.
• Room 36: Chinese: early stone reliefs.
• Room 37: Java, Cambodia: wood and stone architectural elements.

Not every one of these rooms was realized as originally envisioned.

It must be noted that Fiske Kimball sometimes compromised the architecture’s artistic or historical integrity for practical considerations involving the room’s function as a backdrop to other art works. The rooms acquired approximately half a century later have been treated with greater concern for the authenticity of their preservation and presentation.

Using this Guide

This guide organizes the museum's period rooms and collections of architectural elements by geography. Where possible, the rooms and elements are linked to their individual pages in our online collection database.

Evolving interpretation of these spaces means that not all period rooms are described using the terminology by which they were originally conceived, even though many older museum records may refer to them in this way. Examples include the "Florentine Gothic Room," "Louis XVI Room," etc. Where applicable, these general descriptors have been added as parentheticals below the titles for the sake of research and cross-reference.