The Benjamin Franklin Parkway (originally called the Fairmount Parkway until 1937) was designed as the centerpiece of the City Beautiful urban design movement of the late 19th Century. Often compared to the Champs-Elysees in Paris because of its width and anchoring by key public monuments and edifices, in fact, it looks little like that famous roadway, but is truly an American take on European classical architecture and urban planning, talked about since the Civil War to signify a "model of an orderly, classical metropolis, crisscrossed by boulevards and dominated by stately groups of public buildings." And, true to that description, the buildings along its traverse from City Hall to the foot of the Art Museum, are what make this diagonal slash through Center City so dramatic, culturally worthwhile, and give the roadway its importance and stately beauty.
The emergence of these structures began in 1864 when the Cathedral of Peter and Paul was completed at 18th and Logan Square. Thereafter, in 1876 The Academy of Natural Sciences opened at 19th and the Parkway. In 1901 Philadelphia City Hall was finished. Ground for the actual roadway was not broken until 1907, although plans for it had gone through several iterations until then - delayed by political considerations. The final design was not approved until 1917, when actual construction commenced. The Swann Memorial Fountain in the middle of Logan Square started flowing in 1924. The Free Library main branch began lending books in 1927, and the first part of the Pennsylvania Museum (later renamed the Philadelphia Museum of Art) admitted its first visitors in 1928. Rodin Museum followed in 1929 at 22nd and the Parkway, and The Franklin Institute opened at its current location at 20th and the Parkway in 1934. Moore College of Art & Design moved to its campus on 20th Street in 1959; the Barnes Foundation in 2012 between 20th and 21st Streets. There are many other buildings along the Parkways length contributing to its overall grandeur.
Although Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods, what gives this town its national and international identity (in addition to cheesesteaks and pretzels) are the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and all that is found along its length and breadth. From City Hall to the Art Museum, this space is where people meet for special events, from 4th of July concerts and fireworks, to the Papal visit and National Football League Draft. It has a deserved reputation for a great party venue that has only improved with the new skyline in western Center City and the emergence of West Philly across the Schuylkill River as an educational and commercial center in view beyond the museum to the west. It attracts pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists to survey its graceful imposing reality. It is a great place for people watching. The addition of restaurants and cafes within a few blocks of the Parkway, make it also a cool place to find anything from a nosh to full dinner.
The only place better to capture the essence of the city is to get up to the Belmont Plateau on a late afternoon and take in the panorama of Center City from that vantage point. You can do both spots as part of one excursion, then come back; find a place to park, and explore the great collections and histories that populate the Parkway. read more