Background
The Curtis Center is where Cyrus Curtis founded his first magazine, the Ladies Home Journal, in 1883. He also published The Saturday Evening Post, which once was the most widely circulated weekly magazine in America.
In the lobby of the Curtis Center, “The Dream Garden,” a 15′ x 49′ glass mosaic masterpiece, was designed by Maxfield Parrish in 1914. Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Studios created over 100,000 mosaic glass pieces in 260 colors for “The Dream Garden,” which embodied Curtis Publishing’s goal of making art accessible to a wide public audience by its placement in the Center’s lobby.
Maxfield Parrish’s design “envisioned fantastical spaces where a visitor would chance upon places of tremendous beauty and solitude, improved by careful placement of foliage and flowers, large classical urns, reflecting pools and fountains, walkways and steps. The masks in the foreground evoke Parrish’s love of theater and lend the character of a stage to this ideal landscape.” Parrish’s design was inspired by the gardens he had built at The Oaks, his Plainfield, New Hampshire home.
“The finished work was hailed by art critics as a ‘veritable wonder piece’ at the official unveiling in 1916. The amazing variety of opaque, translucent and transparent glass, entirely lighted from the lobby, achieves perspective effects that have never been duplicated.”
The Potential Sale, Move and Casino Controversy
Until the summer of 1998, “The Dream Garden” rested comfortably in the lobby of the Curtis Building, attracting thousands of visitors who would view it without fanfare and then shuffle off to the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall. The masterpiece was pretty much taken for granted in a city with many great works of art.
“In 1998, after the death of John W. Merriam who had owned ‘The Dream Garden,’ Philadelphia came close to losing ‘The Dream Garden.’ The proposed sale of ‘The Dream Garden” to casino magnate Steve Wynn with its removal from Philadelphia to a Las Vegas casino caused a vigorous public outcry.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that removing “The Dream Garden” from Philadelphia to a casino was tantamount to “tearing out the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for the highest bidder.”
City officials provided removal resistance when the Philadelphia Historical Commission designated “The Dream Garden” as a “historic object” which made it more difficult to leave Philadelphia. The Pew Charitable Trust stepped up with a grant of $3.5 million to purchase a private beneficial interest from Merriam’s estate. The various charitable beneficiaries of John Merriam’s estate donated their beneficial interests with the result that the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Maxfield Parrish was an Academy graduate) became the sole owner and custodian of “The Dream Garden,” a historic and beloved work of art.
The Outcome
“The Dream Garden” has a permanent Curtis Center home to delight and enthrall Philadelphia residents and visitors, now and in the future.
Source: “The Dream Garden at the Curtis Center–Philly’s Hidden Gem in Plain Site” at www.theconstitutional.com.