When it comes to historic Philadelphia museums that take seriously their mission of historical accuracy and preservation, perhaps none is quite as accomplished as the Wagner Free Institute of Science, a self-described Victorian natural science and history museum that has been serving the city in North Philadelphia, not far from Temple University, since 1855.
On May 17, for instance, the museum became the recipient of three separate prestigious awards, one of which was the result of a restoration project that managed to update the museum's century-old heating system without sacrificing the historic or the aesthetic integrity of the building.
Ironically, the award--a 2011 Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia--was essentially the result of a 2009 boiler room fire that destroyed the Wagner's ancient Broomell Vapor heating system. Most modern museums, of course, would have simply updated the ruined system, which was installed in 1907, with something new and advanced. But at the quirky Wagner Free Institute, where "little has changed but the century," according to a blurb on its website, "modern" is very rarely equated with "better." And so a series of "green design principles and sustainable practices" were instituted instead, according to a press release. And thanks in large part to an engineering firm known as the Landmark Facilities Group, the Broomell Vapor was saved.
Coincidentally, the Wagner now has another renovation coming its way, thanks to recent funding from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage's Heritage Philadelphia program. Those funds will be used to update the museum's aged electrical system, and to install new lighting. The Wagner was also recently recognized for the strength of its science programming by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and by City Council through its Councilman David Cohen Award.
Source: Abby Sullivan, Wagner Free Institute of Science
Writer: Dan Eldridge
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