Editing Frank Furness (section)

== Fisher Fine Arts Library ==

The Fisher Fine Arts Library at the University of Pennsylvania (1888-91) represents Furness's mature achievement in institutional architecture. The building's massive red brick and terra cotta facades present an asymmetrical composition dominated by a great arched entrance and a soaring tower that serves as bookstack ventilator. The reading room, with its exposed iron structure, brick walls, and overhead lighting, creates an atmosphere of serious study. Furness expressed structure and mechanical systems openly, anticipating twentieth-century approaches to honest building design.<ref name="thomas"/>

The library has been called an early functionalist building, its forms following from programmatic requirements rather than stylistic preconceptions. The tower houses bookstacks in a manner that allows efficient retrieval while expressing this function externally. Yet Furness remained Victorian, decorating his functional forms with ornament that transforms utilitarian elements into objects of visual interest. The building's quality ensured its survival and restoration, allowing continued use for its original purpose while serving as document of Furness's mature work.<ref name="lewis"/>