Mercer Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Where Gumbo Was #155

If you’ve been wondering this week “what the heck could this place be? It sort of looks old-churchy, and sort of abandoned warehouse, and sort of ancient castle,” you were not alone. It’s a common enough reaction of visitors to what must be one of the most unusual museums in the world.

And one of you, Marilyn Jones, was able to spot it, although she confused the name with the founder’s nearby home, Fonthill Castle, which is similar in style, and of which, more later. Welcome to the Mercer Museum, Doylestown, PA.

If the museum seems eccentric in design, Henry C. Mercer meant it to be. A man of many talents (poet, professor, paleontologist, archeologist, artist, author and ceramicist), he had unusual ideas, and by the middle of his life, he inherited enough money to give them concrete expression.

And in this case, I mean “concrete expression” both literally and figuratively; his three important buildings in his hometown, Doylestown, PA, are all pioneering uses of reinforced concrete. He designed and supervised construction of all three, but the museum itself, seven stories tall is probably the most unusual.

Under construction, 1916.

Its seven stories have no conventional frame, and are connected by stairs and ramps that take a visitor from top to bottom or vice versa. From the second floor to the top, the walkways surround an atrium. The building really has no “floors” in the usual sense. It’s also unheated, and was designed to rely on its 127 windows for most of its lighting. Because of a museum fire in Chicago in the late 1800s, Mercer was set on “fireproof.”

But far more unusual than the building was Mercer’s idea of what should go in it. He believed that American society was being destroyed by industrialism, was loosing contact with its artisan roots. And so, after leaving the academic world, completing an apprenticeship to a potter and starting the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (his other Doylestown building), he began collecting tools and artifacts of American life prior to 1850.

As you can guess by now, Mercer was not a man to do things by halves; within a few years he not only had thousands of items, he had agents scouring first Bucks County and Pennsylvania, and then the U.S. and then Europe and beyond. And when you have that many things, you need a place to put them. And, since Mercer wanted others to understand his point, a place to display them.

The design of the museum as a continuous path was not an accident. Mercer had a unique plan for organizing the artifacts, not by date or where they came from, but by their relation to mankind’s needs. At the lowest level, the emphasis is on tools needed for cooking and primitive agriculture and clothing. As you spiral upward, you begin to find more complex tools and concepts. Printing comes along. Mechanical pumps. Eyeglasses and decorative arts. Music. Law and justice. Not to mention an entire room devoted to cast-iron stoveplates. And another to stoves.

This was my second visit to the Mercer, but it won’t be the last. It’s a place you can get a lot from in a short visit, but not one you’ll leave without thinking “I need to come back and look more closely at that part.” That’s especially so, because as you can see, it’s a very crowded display; “one of its kind” was not Mercer’s motto!

It’s operated by the Bucks County Historical Society, which also runs its research library and also owns the other Mercer buildings. Fonthill and the Moravian Pottery are also open to visitors. They’re on my “next time” list.

One more note: A number of large tiles designed by Mercer and made at his tile works are on the ground level, depicting a number of crafts. After looking at the work, I was not surprised to find that his work was considered a highlight of Arts and Crafts period work, and that his work can be found at Kykuit (the Rockefeller estate in NY), the Casino at Monte Carlo and, intriguingly, at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Go take a look if you can!

If you’re going:

Doylestown is about a one-hour drive from Philadelpha or an hour and 50 minutes from New York.
The three buildings (Mercer, Fonthill, Moravian) are all within 1.5 miles and are all near the center of not-so-big Doylestown
Along the main streets of Doylestown, there are quite a few reasonable restaurants for a lunch break; we enjoyed the Farm House Tavern on N. Main. If you go there, think about sharing; portions are big!
For ticket information on the Mercer sites, check the Museum’s website
Across the street from the Mercer Museum is the James Michener Museum of Art, housed in a former penitentiary. In addition to traveling and temporary exhibits, it has a large collection of works by Pennsylvania artists, including the Pennsylvania Impressionists. Also worth your time!