Shopping malls are typically not places where visitors can find museum-worthy artwork.
But when a rich businessman and philanthropist with a passion for history wanted to make his new location stand out in what was Bucks County first mega indoor shopping destination, he got creative.
This is how the Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem ended up with eight original pieces of historic art that were supposed to be permanent displays.
While much of the mall is to be demolished starting later this year to make way for a major redevelopment of the property, Bensalem officials have confirmed that the elaborately designed scenes featuring papier-mâché figurines and a bronze statue of a Lenni-Lenape chief will be preserved.
What's going on with the seven dioramas in the wall outside Macy’s?
When the Neshaminy Mall opened in 1968,
it had two anchor department stores, and one was the famed Philadelphia retail titan Strawbridge & Clothier.
Its Chairman George Stockton Strawbridge is the one who commissioned the a series of mechanical dioramas to be installed in the wall outside the interior entrance of his new suburban location at the mall.
Strawbridge was widely regarded as a local history buff, but he was also a smart businessman and hoped the elaborate attraction would draw shoppers into his store.
The New York-based Tommy Rowland Inc. was hired to create seven scenes featuring 2-foot high, hand-painted and posed figures encased in glass boxes that depicted pivotal moments in early Colonial American history in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas during the revolution.
Rowland created the pieces in the Staten Island studio managed by his wife, who happened to be a store window designer renowned for her animated displays, according to members of the Bensalem Historical Society. The so-called “Freedom Wall” was the first permanent series of its size and scope for the Rowland studio.
The display included an 8-foot in diameter bronze clock with a marble face that didn’t tell time, but marked when animatronic figures in the glass boxes would come to life.
A voice track recording for each scene lasted 3-5 minutes, approximately 15 minutes total, and it played throughout the day, historical society members said. Bronze plaques installed underneath each scene explained the historical significance it depicted.
The scenes included the signing of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington crossing the Delaware River, the hiding of the Liberty Bell in Allentown and William Penn signing a treaty with the Shackamaxon.
At some point the bronze clock timer was replaced with buttons to turn on each scene, and the bronze plaques under the scenes were also removed. By 2006 the displays no longer operational.
In 2021 the new owner of the former Macy’s building, which closed in 2017, donated the dioramas to the Bensalem Historical Society, which removed four of them. Two have been fully restored to working order.
The largest of the pieces, the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, is displayed at the Bensalem Municipal Building along Byberry Road. The Mercer Museum in Doylestown has the restored scene of Washington Crossing the Delaware River.
Within the next three weeks, Bensalem Township plans to take out the last three dioramas. They will be placed into storage with plans to restore them, Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo said.
Where will the Chief Tawanka statue go?
The other historic piece of art that's to be preserved is the bare-chested Lenni-Lenape Chief Tawanka statue overseeing a fountain outside the former Macy’s.
After the mall opened, Strawbridge hired American sculptor Henry Mitchell to create the bronze cast as the centerpiece to replace the original minimalistic-inspired fountain outside his store.
The new statue and fountain was dedicated in September 1970. It attracted thousands of coin-tossing visitors over the decades when it was operational.
This fountain's inspiration was the Delaware Native American tribe that lived along the Neshaminy Creek. The artist, Mitchell, has public installations found throughout Philadelphia.
Last year Pat Conte, the mall’s manager, confirmed that the statute will not be destroyed as part of the demolition.
DiGirolamo said the statue could be incorporated in the redesign of the property. If not, he said he intends to have the township remove and preserve it.
Crime and courts reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Historical art created for the Neshaminy Mall is to be preserved
