The history of Pennsylvania Hospital’s Pine Building

For nearly three centuries, Pennsylvania Hospital has been at the forefront of innovation.

At the time of the hospital’s founding in 1751, the mere idea of having a designated place to take care of people in the colonies was groundbreaking. And it has continued to innovate based on the needs of its community, expanding into a large network of clinical and research facilities, providing cancer care, outpatient practices, specialty treatment centers, and more

It's this expansion that Pennsylvania Hospital co-founder Benjamin Franklin would be proud of. After all, he said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

But all of this would not be possible without the hospital’s historic Pine Building. In 2026, this space is newly reopened as a public museum with exhibits that tell stories of the hospital’s past, as part of the celebrations for the hospital’s 275th anniversary and the United States’ semiquincentennial. Nestled in a modern health care campus, this unwavering Philadelphia fixture is the original structure of the nation’s first chartered hospital, and continues to serve as a reminder of its celebrated 275 years of history—and counting—every day.

Breaking ground for groundbreaking care

It started with a conversation with Benjamin Franklin, as many great Philadelphia sites do.

Prior to opening a private practice in the city, Thomas Bond trained to be a physician in Europe, where he encountered the voluntary hospital movement. It was a new way of taking care of people who were both poor and sick.

In the early 18th century, the colonies had Almshouses, shelters that offered clothing, food, and care for those experiencing poverty or illness in exchange for labor. Many relied on family medicinal “recipes,” like drinking hot broth or tea when feeling unwell. Seeing an actual physician required a paid house call. As Bond observed, a lot of people could not afford to hire one, leaving afflictions untended.

A hospital could provide people care in their communities, while also offering aspiring doctors a place to train.

The idea of building a hospital in Philadelphia garnered interest but no financial contributions, until Franklin, one of Bond’s friends and an influencer of his time, endorsed the project. “People inquired what Franklin thought of the idea. Bond didn’t think his friend had an interest in medicine,” said Stacey Peeples, lead archivist and curator of Pennsylvania Hospital’s archives. “As we know, everything was Franklin’s interest.” Serving as a hospital co-founder with Bond, Franklin made connections to get the funding.

Pennsylvania Hospital was chartered on May 11, 1751, with its home in a rented house on Market Street until land was purchased in 1755. On a half block of 8th and Pine Street, once considered a rural region, the Pine Building opened its doors in 1756. The first of three sections—now referred to as the east wing—it provided men’s and women’s wards to address physical and mental health.

Physical ailments included fevers, wounds, and diseases like malaria.

“Mental illness was not understood in colonial America,” explained Peeples. “What the physicians at the hospital did—treating the patients more humanely, giving them a safe place to reside, food, exercise—was revolutionary.”

With more funding and more patients, the Pine Building gained its first addition in 1796 with the construction of its west wing, a designated mental health facility. In 1804, a center structure—the Great Court for administrative purposes—joined the two wings, completing the building.

‘Nation’s first’ sparks innovative firsts

Transformation persists within the Pine Building, which over the centuries has been home to historic, national firsts: the first elaboratory, or apothecary (original pharmacies) in 1764, where specialists ground herbs and minerals to prepare patient prescriptions; the first medical library in 1762, a vast collection of medical literature that spans centuries, which moved to its now permanent location in 1835; and the first surgical amphitheater in 1804. The oldest existing one in the U.S., the amphitheater’s circular design with tiered seating allowed students to observe operations. A skylight was the only source of lighting for procedures.

“It's amazing to think about who has walked these halls before us—the footsteps we follow and the knowledge once shared here,” said Pennsylvania Hospital Chief Executive Officer Alicia Gresham. “This was all cutting-edge back then. Now we are doing and talking about things they couldn't even have imagined.”

Slowly, the Pennsylvania Hospital grounds evolved beyond the Pine Building. The whole block was eventually acquired for a variety of smaller, detached buildings—a kitchen, washhouse, stables, and privies. In the 20th century, more buildings were constructed to keep up with rapid medical advancements. These included greater use of anesthesia, improved sanitary conditions—germ theory was understood—and the use of newly invented technologies like the X-ray, Peeples explained.

The hospital’s current modern buildings, which were primarily constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, have been kept up to date to support Penn Medicine’s state-of-the-art care and pioneering procedures. For example, neurosurgeons at Pennsylvania Hospital are leading studies of a brain-computer-interface that could help restore motor function to patients with spinal cord injuries, and pioneering uses of deep brain stimulation to treat intractable psychiatric diseases.

“Our strategy starts with identifying what we do well and asking: How do we build on that? How do we carry it into the future?” Gresham said. “Part of our success has been our ability to solve problems as needs arise—providing care during wars, responding to the drug crisis and the AIDS epidemic, and advancing mental health and women's health. Caring for our community is rooted in our history, and we are carrying that legacy forward.”

Although the Pine Building closed its doors for patient care in 1972 as clinical practices moved to more modern facilities, it remains an active part of Pennsylvania Hospital’s campus—and interwoven with the cultural history of the hospital, the nation, and the city of Philadelphia.

The Pine Building, a National Historic Landmark, still serves one of its original functions—an administrative space for conference rooms and offices, like Peeples’. Gresham, the hospital CEO, had her office in the building until it was relocated for the 2026 museum construction.

The Pine Building also holds the archives, managed by Peeples, that contain hundreds of medical artifacts, photographs, and records since the 1700s. Over the last 25 years, prior to curating the new museum, Peeples has overseen this historic collection and has guided countless tours for school field trips, researchers, and fellow history enthusiasts.

The Great Court, with its grandiose white pillars and elaborate, tiled floors, along with the vibrant gardens that surround the building’s exterior, have served as the backdrop for many gatherings, including employee appreciation events, award ceremonies, and Intensive Care Nursery reunions, where ICN nurses reconnect with former patients and families (Pennsylvania Hospital was the first hospital in the North American colonies to deliver a baby in 1765!).

Nearly all of Philadelphia’s mayors have visited the campus, including Samuel Rhoads, Pennsylvania Hospital’s architect, who was elected in 1774. It’s where Ed Rendell, also a former Philadelphia mayor before he went on to become Pennsylvania’s 45th governor, announced he was receiving treatment for Parkinson’s disease—the Penn Medicine Movement Disorders Center is one of the largest clinics of its kind in the nation—to shine a light on life with the diagnosis and the importance of early detection.

It’s even the hospital trusted to treat fictitious fighter, and city icon, Rocky Balboa after a match with Apollo Creed: The hospital’s 8th Street archway was shown in a scene in Rocky II as Rocky and Adrian exit after he’s discharged.

“The Pine Building is so interwoven into this community, into this city,” Peeples said. “While there’s the need to be modern and advanced, to keep pushing a hospital forward, there’s something remarkable that generation after generation has agreed that this building is important to keep.”