Mercer Museum | |
 Mercer Museum inDoylestown, Pennsylvania | |
   | |
| Location | 84 S. Pine St., Doylestown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°18′28″N75°7′38″W / 40.30778°N 75.12722°W /40.30778; -75.12722 |
| Built | 1904 |
| Architect | Dr. Henry Mercer |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| Part of | Fonthill, Mercer Museum, and Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (ID85002366) |
| NRHP reference No. | 72001097[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 16, 1972[1] |
| Designated NHLDCP | February 4, 1985[2] |
TheMercer Museum is a museum located inDoylestown, Pennsylvania. The Bucks County Historical Society operates the Mercer Museum, the Research Library, andFonthill Castle, the former home of the museum's founder,archeologistHenry Chapman Mercer.
The museum was individually listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1972,[1] and was later included in aNational Historic Landmark District along with theMoravian Pottery and Tile Works andFonthill. These three structures are the only poured-in-placeconcrete structures built by Mercer.[2]
Henry Mercer was a gentleman anthropologist. On a cruise up theRuhr in early adulthood, Mercer was impressed by the eclipse of artisanal culture by industrial production, and resolved himself to preserving artifacts of preindustrial life.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mercer collectedpre-industrialhand tools and other implements of the past. He believed that the story of human progress and accomplishments was told by the tools and objects that people used and saw these time-honored crafts slowly disappearing from memory.
Mercer personally designed plans for a museum to house his collection, six stories tall and cast of poured-in-placeconcrete. Mercer's museum was completed in 1916.
In addition to tools, it displays furnishings ofearly America, carriages,stove plates, agallows, antiquefire engines, awhaleboat, and theLenape Stone. The Mercer Museum Library, which houses the Bucks County Historical Society's archive of historical research materials, is located on its third floor.
In June 2011, construction was completed on a new, extensive visitors center at the front of the museum.
The museum is one of three poured-in-placeconcrete structures built by Mercer. The others include his home Fonthill and theMoravian Pottery and Tile Works, both of which are located one mile from the museum.
Mercer decided to build with concrete after theGreat Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed his aunt's prized collection of medieval armor, which had been stored in wooden structures. He did not want his own collections to suffer the same fate.
Locals mocked his choice of building materials, but on completion of the museum, he lit a bonfire on its roof to prove that it was fireproof.[3] Mercer's museum was an early demonstration ofrebar-reinforced concrete as a structural material.
