Watch ONLINE via ZOOM from the safety and comfort of your home. A link with instructions will be provided three hours prior to this virtual lecture.

The Great Challenge: The Design and Building of Girard College, 1831-2024

presented by Bruce Laverty

Stephen Girard’s extraordinary testamentary bequest called for the establishment of a boarding school for “poor white male orphans.” The size of his gift and the very specific, yet incomplete, details given in his will created immediate and long-lasting legal, political educational, religious, and social justice controversies. Laverty will examine the architectural and engineering challenges presented by the will. He will discuss the unique contributions of architect Thomas Ustick Walter and banker Nicholas Biddle, the two men responsible for transforming Girard’s intentions into bricks, mortar and marble.

In 1993 Bruce Laverty edited the first published catalog of the Girard College architectural drawings. He is founding director of the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project and the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network. In 2021 he received the Alliance’s James Biddle Award for Lifetime Achievement.

$15 | General Admission

$10 | Alliance Member

Complimentary access available to current students and to Art-Reach ACCESS Card holders.

*Students, please email photo of valid student ID to Vinni Cheng tours@preservationalliance.com to register.

*Art Reach ACCESS Card holders, please email member name and member number to Vinni Cheng tours@preservationalliance.com to register.