One of the most beautiful sites in Philadelphia is hidden. Set aside in the lobby of the Curtis Building, what is now a still in use office building but was once the Saturday Evening Post offices, is a Tiffany mosaic based on a Parrish artwork. The Dream Garden Mosaic is a masterpiece based on a masterpiece.
It's 24 panels took 6 months to install in 1916 by the Louis Comfort Tiffany Studios, one of only three such pieces ever done by Tiffany Studios. The mosaic, entitled Dream Garden, is a 15 × 49-foot beauty made of more than 100,000 pieces of favrile glass. The scene was painted by a Philadelphian artist, Maxfield Parrish.
Inside the marble lobby and behind a fountain, it's a refreshing break from the historical hustle and bustle across the street on the Independence Mall. There are more than 260 colors represented in the artwork depicting a serene landscape that really is a dream garden.
NOTE: The lobby is not open on Sundays or holidays! It's a regular office building, however the artwork is owned by Philadelphia Academy of Arts - the piece was bought by a casino owner who wanted to move it to Las Vegas and Philadelphia rallied to buy it back!
