Mercer Museum

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Significant dates
Mercer Museum
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District Contributing Property

Mercer Museum

Location	Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°18′28″N 75°7′38″W / 40.30778°N 75.12722°W / 40.30778; -75.12722Coordinates: 40°18′28″N 75°7′38″W / 40.30778°N 75.12722°W / 40.30778; -75.12722
Built	1904
Architect	Dr. Henry Mercer
Architectural style	Colonial Revival, Other
Governing body	Private
Part of	Fonthill, Mercer Museum, and Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (#85002366)
NRHP Reference #	72001097^[1]
Added to NRHP	March 16, 1972^[1]
Designated NHLDCP	February 4, 1985^[2]

The Mercer Museum is a museum located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States, a suburb of Philadelphia. The Bucks County Historical Society operates the museum, as well as the Mercer Museum Library and Fonthill, former home of the museum's founder, archeologist Henry Chapman Mercer. The museum was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972,^[1] and was later included in a National Historic Landmark District along with the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works and Fonthill. These three structures are the only poured-in-place concrete structures built by Mercer.^[2]

History

Sample of tile work from the on-site production facility in the Mercer Museum

Henry Mercer was a gentleman anthropologist. On a cruise up the Ruhr in early adulthood, Mercer was impressed by the eclipse of artisanal culture by industrial production, and resolved himself to preserving artifacts of preindustrial life. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mercer collected pre-industrial hand tools and other implements of the past. He believed that the story of human progress and accomplishments was told by the tools and objects that people used and saw these time-honored crafts slowly disappearing from memory.

Mercer personally designed plans for a museum to house his collection, six stories tall and cast of poured-in-place concrete. Mercer's museum was completed in 1916. In addition to tools, it displays furnishings of early America, carriages, stove plates, a gallows, antique fire engines, a whaleboat, and the Lenape Stone. The Mercer Museum Library, which houses historical research materials, is located on its third floor.

Why concrete?

The museum is one of three poured-in-place concrete structures built by Mercer. The others include his home Fonthill and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, both of which are located one mile from the museum.

Mercer decided to build with concrete after the Great Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed his aunt's prized collection of medieval armor, which had been stored in wooden structures. He did not want his own collections to suffer the same fate. Locals mocked his choice of building materials, but on completion of the museum, he lit a bonfire on its roof to prove that it was fireproof . Mercer's museum was an early demonstration of rebar-reinforced concrete as a structural material.

Inside the Mercer Museum.Note the quasi "fun-house" effect with pieces hanging from the ceiling and walls.
19th Century cigar store figures

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
↑ 2.0 2.1 "Fonthill, Mercer Museum, and Moravian Pottery and Tile Works". National Historic Landmark listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-12-16.

External links

Mercer Museum, Pine & Ashland Streets, Doylestown, Bucks County, PA: 21 photos, 8 data pages, and 2 photo caption pages at Historic American Buildings Survey
Mercer Museum official website
Panoramic images: exterior, main chamber, stove plate gallery

v t e Museums in Pennsylvania

Art:	Allentown Art Museum Andy Warhol Museum Athenaeum of Philadelphia Barnes Foundation Brandywine River Museum Carnegie Museum of Art Erie Art Museum Frick Art & Historical Center Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia La Salle University Art Museum Mattress Factory Michener Art Museum Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon Palmer Museum of Art Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Philadelphia Museum of Art Pittsburgh Glass Center Reading Public Museum Rodin Museum Susquehanna Art Museum University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Westmoreland Museum of American Art Woodmere Art Museum

History, Culture, and Religion:	African American Museum in Philadelphia American Jewish Museum American Swedish Historical Museum Civil War Museum of Philadelphia Erie Maritime Museum Gettysburg Museum Heinz History Center Independence Seaport Museum Johnstown Flood Museum Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mercer Museum Museum of the American Revolution Museum of Indian Culture National Civil War Museum National Constitution Center National Museum of American Jewish History Nationality Rooms Philadelphia History Museum Rosenbach Museum & Library State Museum of Pennsylvania U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center

Science, Technology, and Industry:	Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University America On Wheels Carnegie Museum of Natural History Carnegie Science Center Chemical Heritage Foundation Da Vinci Science Center Drake Well Museum Everhart Museum Franklin Institute Mütter Museum Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Railroaders Memorial Museum Steamtown National Historic Site Wagner Free Institute of Science

Children's:	Children's Museum of Pittsburgh Miniature Railroad & Village National Toy Train Museum Please Touch Museum

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania

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