{"nrhp_refnum":"85000039","name":"Franklin Institute Science Museum","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"20th St. and the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.958201760000065,"lon":-75.17324740199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture","Invention"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Classical Revival and Beaux-Arts museum building occupying a city block at Twentieth, Winter, Twenty-First and Race streets on the west side of Logan Square in Philadelphia, along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It houses the Franklin Institute, designed by John T. Windrim and completed in 1934 with the Franklin Memorial rotunda.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the Franklin Institute is the oldest science and technology institution in continuous existence in North America and that its 1934 building opened the first modern hands-on museum in the nation. It also presents the building as a major architectural landmark on the Parkway, with a design that balanced monumental Classical facades, sparse exhibit spaces and visible structural systems.","narrative":"Occupying an entire city block on the west side of Logan Square in Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute is a massive Classical Revival building with buff Indiana limestone facades on a granite plinth and monumental Corinthian porticos on its Twentieth and Winter Street wings. Designed by John T. Windrim and completed in 1934, it was intended to cover the whole block but only the two wings were built. Its Franklin Memorial rotunda, modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, houses a seated marble statue of Benjamin Franklin by James Earle Fraser. The institution it houses was founded in 1824 and is regarded as the oldest science and technology institution in continuous existence in North America. The building opened the first modern hands-on museum in the nation, with more than 4,000 action exhibits on its opening day. Its exhibition halls were deliberately plain, and its structural and mechanical systems were displayed as educational exhibits, a combination regarded as an important response to the needs of a science museum.","period_of_significance":"1931-1933","architect_builder":"John J. Windrim, archt.; Day & Zimmermann, Engineering & Construction Co., Division of United Engineers & Constructors, bldr.","architectural_style":"Classical Revival / Beaux-Arts","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Unaltered and intact as built; the building is in excellent condition and on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:13:21.043222-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/85000039.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000039/63ee8cfabf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000039/63ee8cfabf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Michael Barera","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philadelphia_October_2017_10_(The_Franklin_Institute).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Barera</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philadelphia_October_2017_10_(The_Franklin_Institute).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997330","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Institute","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q339484"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/franklin-institute-science-museum-85000039/"}