Franklin Court: Benjamin Franklin's Genius and Ghost Structure

Why is it significant?

Walk under the brick archway into the cobblestone courtyard of Franklin Court and look up at the soaring white steel framework tracing the outline of a three-story colonial house against the sky.

Key Facts

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Walk under the brick archway into the cobblestone courtyard of Franklin Court and look up at the soaring white steel framework tracing the outline of a three-story colonial house against the sky. Because no reliable drawings survived of Benjamin Franklin's original seventeen sixty-five mansion, renowned modernist architect Robert Venturi erected this famous ghost structure in nineteen seventy-six.

Beneath your feet in the courtyard, Franklin lived his final years surrounded by his beloved inventions: his lightning rods, bifocal glasses, flexible urinary catheters, and the armonica, a musical instrument played with wet glass bowls. He designed his library to hold four thousand volumes, then the largest private collection in North America.

In the adjacent print shop, colonial presses clacked out Poor Richard's Almanack and the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin always insisted on introducing himself primarily not as a diplomat or statesman, but simply: Benjamin Franklin, Printer.

Exit out to Arch Street and walk toward Christ Church Burial Ground.