The Please Touch Museum, located in Philadelphia PA houses a marble floor has lasted long past its expected useful life! Constructed in 1875-1876 to house the first World’s Fair the building was part of a much larger complex of buildings on the Belmont Plateau, including massive railroad stations, built to handle the influx of people expected to attend this amazing event. Most of the buildings erected for the event have long since been demolished, but Memorial Hall remained. In 2016 bids were received to take up the marble floor, replace the substrate underneath, and re-lay the salvaged tile along with new marble to replace damaged originals. As the project evolved Knapp Masonry developed the plan to perform this work from event tents while the museum remained in operation. The public can get up close to the work! As the years went by the project evolved as sourcing replacement marble that exactly matched the original was very difficult. In the end the cost of attempting to salvage all of the marble was prohibitive and it was decided to instead replace the entire floor in its entirety. In 2023 Knapp Masonry was awarded the project and work began on 2-15-2024!

Memorial Hall Floor Renovation