Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ new HVAC project is just the start of work — if millions more can be raised

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has closed its historic building to replace most of the HVAC system, and the yearlong shutdown may also be an opportunity to do millions of dollars’ more work on the historic edifice.

Floors and stairs need repairs, walls in galleries must be sealed from invasive moisture, electrical upgrades are advisable, and the roof has ongoing needs.

Just one thing stands in the way.

“Everything’s definitely contingent on the ability to secure the funds,” says PAFA president and CEO Eric G. Pryor.

The Academy, one of the oldest and most storied art institutions in the U.S., is in the midst of executing a number of interconnected institutional changes aimed at righting its finances. Faced with falling enrollment, rising expenses, and an operating deficit, PAFA announced in January the end of college-degree programs after the 2024-25 school year. A replacement certificate program, expected to be more lucrative, is in development.

At the same time, PAFA is seeking to bring in revenue through renting the art-making facilities in its newer Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building to other arts groups.

Key to the institutional retooling are repairs to one of the crown jewels in the relatively small inventory of surviving Frank Furness-designed structures — PAFA’s historic landmark building just north of City Hall. The Academy has about $5.5 million in hand for a $10 million project to replace the venting, piping, and air handlers of an HVAC system that is not only inefficient, but has occasionally sprung leaks, causing damage to the building.

The museum and school has requests out to get the Academy to the $10 million finish line — including a proposal with the state’s redevelopment capital assistance program for $5 million — and leaders are hopeful that the money will materialize.

But they are stumping for more. And if they get more, a longer list of building improvements awaits.

PAFA revealed earlier this year that it would grant naming rights to the Furness building for a gift of $25 million, and it has been in active discussions with potential donors, Pryor says.

“This is an opportunity to protect one of America’s greatest architectural treasures and one of America’s greatest art collections,” he says.

The donor could put their on the Furness & Hewitt structure, which opened in 1876. But the recent example of philanthropists renaming the Kimmel Center’s orchestra hall for an artist — Marian Anderson — opens up other possibilities.

“I think it could be Eakins, it could be Furness. It could be a Cecilia Beaux, it could be a [Henry Ossawa] Tanner,” says Pryor of possible new names for the building. “The beautiful thing is when you look at PAFA and its history, there have been so many incredible American artists who have had a place in the history of this institution.”

How the money would be applied would be up to PAFA’s board, but Pryor thinks it’s likely a certain amount would be spent on improvements to the building, with another portion remaining in an endowment in perpetuity.

The immediate work being contemplated beyond the HVAC replacement comes to about $5 million — for a total of $15 million. Beyond that, leaders see another $15 million for a new slate roof and electrical system and skylight repairs.

For now, though, PAFA has already embarked on the HVAC project. Art is being crated up and moved out. The building is expected to reopen in the fall 2025 after its longest closure since being shuttered for renovations in preparation for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration of 1976.

“Each year we have a planned upgrade or renewal and we’ve been on a really good schedule, but we’ve gotten to a place where we have to look at the beating heart of it and replace those things,” says Charlie Chase, a PAFA board member who chairs its building committee and has been involved in stewarding the buildings for 14 years. “So the HVAC project is at its core.”

While the art is out of the building, it makes sense to also do as much other work as possible. Plus: “When you open up a section of the building that has been covered up essentially since 1974, you’re gonna find things,” says Chase.

Among the items on the work wish-list beyond the HVAC over the next year is upgrading electrical and plumbing systems, renovating bathrooms, and repairing some painted and gold-leafed architectural elements.

Key to the integrity of both the artwork and the building is managing moisture. PAFA has “reskinned” the walls of one gallery to make them less permeable, and the current closure is an opportunity to do more. The Furness building is constructed so that there’s an outer wall, a gap, and then an interior wall, which is made up of lathing with fabric, says Chase.

“So the fabric contains a lot of moisture. If it rains, that moisture comes through, and when we dehumidify the inside of the building, we’re pulling moisture through. It’s like having sponges on the wall at this point.”

To mitigate moisture, a moisture barrier has been installed in one gallery, “and we have been able to regulate the humidity dramatically,” Chase says.

There are eight more galleries to go, pending funding.

Keeping moisture at bay is also the goal of the HVAC replacement project. Fewer air handlers will be used. Old piping will be removed — two miles of it — and the new pipes will have fewer turns. Fewer turns means less opportunity for leaks, says Ed Poletti, PAFA’s construction and special projects manager. Plus the new pipes will be situated farther from the art, which reduces the risk of water damage.

“It’s a much greener system, it will use a lot less electricity,” says Chase. “The air will be moving more efficiently, and we won’t have cold spots, which leads to a little higher humidity on one side, or hotter spots, which leads to dry air. With this improvement we will be able to achieve more even results.”

Water will still be moving through the building as part of the new HVAC system, “but just in a more efficient way and we’ll have much less and will have monitoring in the places where it needs to be monitored.”

The work happening in the next year may not be sexy, or even necessarily apparent, he says.

“I think people may not see where their money went. I’d be happy to show them.”

As work happens in the Furness building, PAFA is continuing to change other aspects of its operations. The Academy has been marketing its space in the Hamilton building to potential rent-paying tenants. There’s been interest, but so far no takers.

As the school winds down its college-degree programs, Pryor says the school has been making progress on developing its revived certificate program. A new chief learning officer, Sonia BasSheva Mañjon, has been hired, and she has been working with faculty on curriculum. The goal is to submit details of the program to the National Association of Schools of Art and Design by this fall and have the necessary accreditation by January 2025 so it can begin marketing the program for the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Pryor acknowledges that the elimination of the college degrees left some “justifiably upset.” But the full-out closure of the University of the Arts six months later threw PAFA’s shifting mission into relief, he said. For one thing, the Academy didn’t institute change without warning. A “teach out” plan was developed to play out over two school years.

The other piece of perspective:

“I think that the University of the Arts is a wake-up call for everybody in terms of, you know, I think oftentimes it’s easy to take things for granted,” says Pryor.

“Philly has an amazing arts infrastructure of organizations, and let’s be clear — organizations are not just sitting with billion dollar endowments or flush with resources. These things take support and it takes interest from multiple parties.

“I mean, it takes us all to make certain that we don’t have more situations similar to what happened.”