Memorial Hall Fairmount Park. The hall was one of the chief buildings of the Centennial Exposition of 1876 and was dedicated by President Grant. Memorializing the soldiers of the Revolution, the Hall cost $1.5 million to complete. An innovation that added to its expense was that it was built without wood and fireproof. 729 sculptures from the U.S. and Europe were displayed for a year at Memorial Hall. The Hall, in fact, was the city’s art gallery before the Philadelphia Museum of Art was opened. It is closed to the public today, but is used for dances and receptions from time to time. The basement holds a complete scale model of the entire Centennial Exposition.