The Drexel Founding Collection Galleries

The Drexel Founding Collection’s many works of art—which hail from as many as 71 different countries with items that date back as far as 500 BC—can be viewed at three separate galleries on the University City Campus: The Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery, the Rincliffe Gallery and the Paul Peck Alumni Center Gallery. Works of art specific to Drexel’s College of Medicine are displayed throughout the Queen Lane campus.
Each gallery is free and open to the public.

Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery

Main Building, Third Floor
3141 Chestnut St.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment.

In 1902, the Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery was built to display the paintings bequeathed by John D. Lankenau, brother-in-law of Anthony Drexel. Today, the gallery maintains its original state, which includes red fabric covering the walls, brass pendant lamps descending from the ceiling's gilded molding and ebony-colored wainscoting outlining the room, thanks to a generous gift from Ray and Antoinette Westphal in 2002. In 2012 the Picture Gallery was renovated with a grant from the William B. Dietrich Foundation to upgrade the facilities climate control and skylight to comply with today’s museum standards.
The Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery houses many 19th century European paintings and sculptures, including paintings by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, the Barbizon School, the Düsseldorf Academy and portraits of the Drexel family and a few paintings by portrait artist-turned-banker Francis Martin Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel’s father. One of the most significant pieces in the Drexel Founding Collection, the 239-year-old David Rittenhouse Tall-Case Astronomical Music Clock has long been considered the most important clock in the United States and is also on display.

Rincliffe Gallery

Main Building, Third Floor
3141 Chestnut St.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Named after Roy George Rincliffe, a Drexel trustee from 1955-1976, the Rincliffe Gallery displays changing exhibitions on loan from other institutions, private collectors or objects of fine and decorative arts from the Drexel Founding Collection.

Paul Peck Alumni Center Gallery

32nd and Market streets
3141 Chestnut St.
Hours: By appointment.

Built by legendary architect Frank Furness in 1876 as the bank for the Centennial, the Gallery is housed in what was the original Centennial Bank’s bookkeeping room. After undergoing a two-year renovation in 1999, under architects Voith & Mactavish, the Peck Center has been restored to its original state with elaborate stenciling on the ceiling, intricate brickwork and boldly painted, exposed steel girders and columns. This Victorian-style building is one of the few buildings on campus listed on the National Register of historic buildings.

Anthony J. Drexel’s appreciation for art started early in his life especially since his father, Francis Martin Drexel, was a portrait painter. A.J. Drexel collected many 19th century paintings and sculpture as well as decorative arts filling his home. Rotating exhibitions of the paintings and sculpture from the Drexel Founding Collection as well as other Drexel Collections and external loan exhibitions are displayed in the Paul Peck Alumni Center’s Gallery.