Colonial Survival: Independence Hall

The East coast of the United States is graced by a number of important Colonial-era buildings that are sometimes taken for granted.  Many more have sadly disappeared.  Why have certain buildings survived through changing land use patterns, changing tastes, wars, natural disasters, aging, and plain old neglect?  George McNeely will dig into the history of one architectural treasure: our own Independence Hall.  Even that particularly well-known building, in which some of our country’s foundational documents were debated and signed, has struggled through centuries of change.  He will trace its rocky history and explain what is original and what is not so that we can all understand that building as a testament to American survival.

George McNeely writes a regular architectural history column in the Chestnut Hill Local and co-edited World Monuments: 50 Irreplaceable Sites to Discover, Explore and Champion (Rizzoli, 2015).  He was Vice President for International Affairs at World Monuments Fund and was with Christie’s for 15 years as a senior vice president in Business Development and the Chairman’s Office.  Previously he worked at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and in management consulting.  George has a BA in art history from Princeton University and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.  He lives in Awbury Arboretum.