November 18, 2014

When you walk into the Main Building you may notice that the low entry ceiling is painted solid white. Moving into the Great Court, you'll look up to see its ceiling is painted pale green. Did you know that these ceilings used to look quite different?

The photo above shows the stenciled ceiling of the entry hall. The light fixture has changed and the Ryder Clock has since been added. When this photo was taken in the 1890s, the entrance to what was then the museum is visible on the right. On your left would have been the entrance to the library, which moved out of Main more than half a century ago.

The photo below shows the Great Court as it looked around the time that the Drexel Institute was dedicated, December 17, 1891. The stencilled ceiling makes the Court look quite different, doesn't it?

The chandelier was destroyed in 1956 when a nearby grain elevator exploded. It was restored in 2006.