Center City Philadelphia

Three Parkway Plaza is a beautifully landscaped plaza along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 16th Street and a great place to relax, grab a cup of coffee, or enjoy some light fare with a friend at Café Cret.

Three Parkway is leased from Fairmount Park and managed by the Center City District.  Revenues generated by the café serve as a source of funding for ongoing maintenance of Three Parkway Plaza and other parkland and streetscape improvements made by the Center City District along the Parkway.

Renovations to the park were made possible by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the Center City District and The Pew Charitable Trusts. 

Features of the Park Include:

	Beloved Sculptures Three Way Piece Number 1: Points, by Henry Moore; Three Discs, One Lacking, by Alexander Calder; The Prophet, by Jacob Lipkin.
	Chess Tables Spend time with friends playing chess at two chess tables located on the plaza.  Pieces can be obtained in the café or bring your own!
	Café Cret Capriccio Cafe and Espresso Bar at Café Cret (pronounced "Cray") has an extensive menu, including local Philadelphia products, like La Colombe coffee, LeBus breads, Gilda’s Biscotti, Lore’s Chocolates and Bassetts Ice Cream. The café also provides visitors with information about Parkway events and exhibits. Brochures highlighting events at Parkway institutions and in Fairmount Park are available inside the cafe.

History
The renovation of Three Parkway Plaza began in 2003, when the CCD partnered with the City and the former owner of the adjacent Three Parkway office building on a first phase of landscape improvements to this triangular park. Those enhancements were completed in 2005 and consisted of new paving, a granite seating wall at the western point of the park, new benches along the Parkway, approximately 15 new trees and seasonal flowers, a new underground irrigation system and new pedestrian-scale lights.

Paul Cret
The café building is named after Paul Cret (pronounced "Cray"), one of the most influential individuals in Philadelphia architecture in the early part of the 20th Century. Cret arrived in the United States from France in 1903 to teach architecture at the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture. He prepared many of the original plans and drawings for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and also designed the Rodin Museum, the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the Barnes Foundation Art Museum, and was responsible for the renovation of Rittenhouse Square, creating the park that Philadelphians and visitors from throughout the world enjoy today.