FRANK FURNESS
Walnut Fireplace Surround, circa 1876
Construction attributed to Daniel Pabst
48"high, 68 1/2" wide, 42 3/4" inside width,
37 1/2" inside height, 71" shelf width, 13 1/2" shelf depth
This restrained fireplace surround was designed just after Frank Furness
completed the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts building in 1876, which was
when his most flamboyant “Modern Gothic” ideas were blossoming throughout
Philadelphia and its suburbs. It has all the details characteristic of Furness
work at that time—lobed flower medallions, squat columns bisected with a band
of carved dots set upon raking plinths, beveled corbels, and ribbed bands and
target-shaped roundels—without the overwhelming scale and terrifying monsters,
which brooded in the shadows of the halls and parlors in the grand houses of
the Cassatts, Roosevelts, and the Moores because it was produced for a modest
West Philadelphia row house.
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