Please Touch Museum Readies
Spectacular Metamorphosis
by Suzanne Koup-Larsen
As Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum readies its move this October to Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall, Delaware Valley families can look forward to a vastly expanded and improved educational play land for kids ages 1-7, and some fun exhibits for older siblings too.
Highlights will include an authentic 1920s carousel, a “Rabbit Hole” slide leading to an Alice-inspired Wonderland, a spectacular replica of the Statue of Liberty’s arm and torch made of toys, and a “River Adventure” where kids can play with water, boats and rainbows.
Meanwhile, fundraising for the $88 million move and expansion has stepped into high gear. One recently announced donation option is the purchase of $250 pavers with engraved messages, which will be imbedded in Memorial Hall’s front steps.
Background
Please Touch, a popular local institution for 32 years, had outgrown its current parking-starved N. 21st St. location when, in Feb. 2005, the Museum signed an 80-year lease to make Memorial Hall its new home.
A National Historic Landmark located about a mile from the Philadelphia Zoo, Memorial Hall was originally constructed as an art museum for the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exhibition. The building is currently undergoing renovations that will triple the Please Touch’s exhibition space to more than 38,000 square feet.
In addition to being larger, the new Please Touch will offer plenty of parking, family restrooms and an on-site restaurant. Many of the exhibits will feature toddler zones, with spaces for little ones to play outside the main flow of foot traffic.
Please Touch president Nancy Kolb estimates that the museum has raised nearly two-thirds of the $88 million needed to complete the Memorial Hall move and expansion. Opportunities to participate in the project include:
• New Please Touch Museum members receive perks at Memorial Hall, including free parking, and free admission for the first three months at Memorial Hall.
• A $250 contribution buys your family’s name engraved on a limited number of pavers at the entrance to Memorial Hall, arranged to make a delightful “sidewalk maze” for visitors to enjoy.
• A $500 contribution supports the new Please Touch Playhouse Theater. Gifts of $1,000 are being sought to support the exhibit of the original Captain Noah and His Magical Ark TV show set. A $1,876 gift brings induction into the 1876 Society. Donors will have their name enshrined in the Centennial Exploration Exhibit, which includes the 1876 Centennial fairgrounds model.
Historical Homage
Vice President of Exhibits Willard Whitson is in charge of dreaming it up and making the exhibits come to life in the new location. In Memorial Hall, he envisions a “much richer, more varied experience than what we can offer now.”
Planners of the new Please Touch took care to incorporate the history of Memorial Hall and the surrounding area. Historic elements include:
• A scale model of the Centennial Exhibition that was created in 1889 to preserve the footprint of the 1876 celebration. This model will be displayed on the first floor of the museum in a bustling train station setting.
• A replica of the Statue of Liberty’s arm and torch will greet visitors as they enter through the front doors of Memorial Hall. Standing under a 150-foot dome, this stunning replica is being sculpted from a collage of toys. According to Whitson, this “great visual jigsaw puzzle” created by sculptor Leo Sewell “will at once be a symbol of the fair and an icon of the Please Touch Museum.”
The Statue of Liberty stands in New York’s harbor, so what does it have to do with Memorial Hall? Although the statue was a gift from France, the people of the U.S. contributed the pedestal. Fundraising for it was in full swing at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. “We’re looking forward to telling Philadelphia a 19th century story it doesn’t know,” says Please Touch president and CEO Nancy Kolb.
• The Dentzel Carousel, originally built in 1924 and operated six blocks away at Woodside Park until the mid 1950s, will be renovated and housed in a new wing on the east side of the building. The original carousel contained 52 hand carved, multi-colored animals and two chariots.
Old and Future Favorites
Many of the best-loved exhibits from 21st St. will travel to Memorial Hall and become much larger and more detailed. “We’re taking our treasures with us,” reassures Kolb. Changes to old favorites include:
• Roadside Attractions will feature a refurbished real SEPTA bus and a revamped Jump Start Garage, where kids can take apart and build cars.
• City Capers, a neighborhood inside the museum, will sport a larger supermarket and the Captain Noah TV set with TV cameras.
• The River Adventures exhibit will be enlarged to allow children to play with water, boats and rainbows. A central feature will be Waterway Play, sponsored by Aqua America, where children can, among other things, build and race boats, create bumps and bubbles, crank fans, activate a lighthouse beacon and fog horns and raise and lower a drawbridge.
• Wonderland, which is of course inspired by Alice in Wonderland, will feature a “Rabbit Hole” slide entrance.
In addition to the exhibits, the Please Touch Museum will offer expanded theater events. The museum’s collection of toys will be displayed throughout the new space.
The Please Touch will remain open at 210 N. 21st St. until renovations at Memorial Hall are completed. The museum will close sometime around Labor Day for four to six weeks to complete the move.
Until then, you can pay $2 per ticket instead of the usual $10.95 if you visit on the first Wednesday of each month between 5 and 7pm.
The museum expects to open its spectacular new play land to Delaware Valley families in October.
Suzanne Koup-Larsen is a local freelance writer.