Woodmere's exciting project to renovate Frances M. Maguire Hall for Art and Education continues on schedule, with the transformation of parlors and bedrooms into fourteen new galleries for Philadelphia's artists, a landscape renewal, and an expansion of education facilities. We look forward to an opening celebration in the spring of 2025. 

With construction ready to start in the fall, we are seeking to find new homes for parts of the building we don't need, which include items such as doors, light fixtures, radiators, and other miscellaneous elements that were added to the structure throughout the course of the 20th century. 

We are planning for an on-site tag sale in October. Please be on the lookout for the finalized dates. 

In advance of the tag sale, we are hoping to find a home for a special part of Maguire Hall, which was installed by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in the early 1930s: an "Elevette" elevator that continues to function to this day. This charming deco-style elevator includes a cab, a motor, and a cable-rail system, and it occupies the central space of the mansion's main staircase. 

The Elevette may remind you of experiences with sliding-gate elevators in the pensiones of Paris or Rome, but it was made by the Inclinator Company of America, headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which remains in business and continues to service their products today.  

 For any reader of the Local, the Elevette is free if you will cover the expense and undertake the removal. If you would like to see it, call Woodmere's main number (215) 247-0476 and ask for Dan Seifert, Director of Facilities. We also have a dumbwaiter that needs a new home! 

William R. Valerio, PhD

The Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and CEO of Woodmere Art Museum