Center City Philadelphia

Transformation of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway into an animated, pedestrian-friendly cultural campus has been an ongoing priority for the Center City District and Central Philadelphia Development Corporation. Working with Parkway institutions, Fairmount Park, neighborhood groups and other stakeholders, CCD and CPDC have conducted planning studies and implemented physical improvements along the 1.1-mile boulevard.

Signs

Directional and interpretive signs installed by CCD in 2007 guide pedestrians along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and provide information about the institutions, public sculpture and the planning and development of the historic boulevard.

Cloud Gehshan Associates designed the signs for CCD, along with dommertphillips, who together worked with Parkway stakeholders and the Fairmount Park Art Association to determine themes for interpretation, iconography and content. The project was funded with support from the William Penn Foundation.

A video highlighting the Parkway signage system:

Triangle Park

The Parkway will be home to a new, seven-days-a-week café and information kiosk when the CCD completes construction later in 2008 on a new pavilion, designed by Cope Linder Architects of Philadelphia, in the triangular park in front of 3 Parkway. Café Cret will seat 26 and serve coffee and light fare. Additional outdoor seating will be available. The project is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

In 2005, the Center City District completed the first phase of work to make the park, bounded by North 16th Street, Cherry Street and the Parkway, more attractive and appealing, installing new sidewalk paving, establishing a new lawn area, planting trees, shrubs and flowers, installing an irrigation system and replacing benches. The work was funded by the City of Philadelphia, the Fairmount Park Commission and AGL Investments.

Aviator Park

Aviator Park, located on the Parkway adjacent to The Franklin and Moore College of Art + Design, is now an open, green, family-friendly oasis after extensive reconstruction by the CCD in 2007. The park has new paved walkways, plantings, benches, trash receptacles and light fixtures.

Aviator Park's redesign and reconstruction was funded with federal transportation enhancement dollars through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (PennDOT) with the Fairmount Park Commission serving as CCD's project partner. The design team consisted of Lager Raabe Skafte Landscape Architects, Urban Engineers, Inc., and Pennoni Associates as construction inspectors.

Shakespeare Park and Sister Cities Park

CCD is conducting preliminary design reviews for site improvements to two more public open spaces along the Parkway: Shakespeare Park, in front of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and Sister Cities Park, in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul.

Lighting Buildings and Art

The art and architecture along the Parkway are beautifully aglow at night, thanks to CCD lighting initiatives.

The CCD dramatically illuminated 20 works of art and the facades of eight landmark buildings along the Parkway in a two-phase project during 2003 and 2004. The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and individual donors funded the project.

The buildings lit by CCD are: The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Free Library of Philadelphia, Family Court, Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul, The Franklin Institute, Academy of Natural Sciences, Moore College of Art + Design and Friends Select School.

CCD lit these outdoor works of art: Washington Monument (Rudolph Siemering, 1897), The Thinker (Auguste Rodin, 1929), Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial (Hermon Atkins MacNeil, 1927), Shakespeare Memorial (Alexander Stirling Calder, 1928), Galusha Pennypacker Monument (Albert Laessle, 1934), Aero Memorial (Paul Manship, 1950), All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors (J. Otto Schweizer, 1934), Kopernik (Dudley Talcott, 1973), Jesus Breaking Bread (Walter Erlebacher, 1978), Thaddeus Kosciuszko (Marian Konieczny, 1979), Three-Way Piece Number 1: Points (Henry Moore, 1967), Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs (Nathan Rapoport, 1964), Deinonychus (Kent Ullberg, 1987), Joseph Leidy (Samuel Murray, 1929), Swann Memorial Fountain (Alexander Stirling Calder, 1924), The Lion Fighter (Albert Wolff, 1892), The Mounted Amazon Attacked by a Panther (Auguste Kiss, 1929), Francisco Di Miranda (Lorenzo Gonzalez, 1977) and The Price (Horace Trumbauer, 1934) and Ericsson Fountains (John F. Harbeson, 1969).

Streetlighting

The CCD installed 222 ornamental, pedestrian-scale lights along the Parkway's sidewalks and another 132 vehicular lights along the Parkway from 16th Street up to and including Eakin's Oval. Installation began in August 2003 and was completed in June 2004, and was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Logan Square Pedestrian Crossings

CCD enhanced pedestrian access to the historic Swann Fountain at Logan Square and to adjacent cultural institutions with the 2004 installation of six, new signalized crosswalks. The William Penn Foundation-funded project also adjusted the geometry of the square to make it safer and easier for vehicles to navigate.