Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
History museum in a glass and terra-cotta building that survived a headline debt crisis and bankruptcy.
The guide to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia begins at the groundbreaking on Independence Mall in September 2007, when a glass and terra-cotta building meant to celebrate Jewish life in America was already quietly being financed on borrowed money. It follows the museum through its 2010 opening with Vice President Joe Biden in attendance, the crowds that never matched the projections, and a debt that grew until interest alone was swallowing a fifth of its budget. By August 2019 the museum had stopped paying that interest altogether, and board chair Phil Darivoff called the debt service too big a burden to carry.
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