Just off the sidewalk on North Franklin Street, between Pennsylvania and Delaware Avenues, is the Howard Pyle Studio.   When Howard Pyle built it more than a century ago, the location was considered the outskirts of the city. Now, tucked amid tall trees and shrubbery away from the noise of today’s heavy traffic, it continues to serve its original purpose as a working studio and source of instruction for artists. 

  At the turn of the century, Howard Pyle was one of the most popular illustrators in America.  When he opened his school in the Franklin Street studio in 1900 he attracted a group of young, eager-to-learn artists such as NC Wyeth, Harvey Dunn, and Frank Schoonover who thrived under Pyle’s teaching and whose collective talent illuminated the “Golden Age of Illustration”.  Over time, Pyle, his many successful students and their descendants became known as the Brandywine School, culminating in the work of the second generation master, Andrew Wyeth.