Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article/April 2008

Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a scenic avenue that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. The Parkway is an integral part of the city's Museum District. Named for favorite son Benjamin Franklin, the Parkway is a mile-long tree-lined boulevard that cuts diagonally across the grid plan street pattern of Center City's northwest quadrant (similar, for example, to the diagonal avenues in Washington, D.C.). It starts at the Philadelphia City Hall and ends at Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some of the city's most famous sites are located here: the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Swann Fountain, which is encircled by Logan Circle, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute, Moore College of Art and Design, the Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Rodin Museum. At its ending point, the parkway provides access to Kelly and Martin Luther King Drives in Fairmount Park and the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76). French urban architect Jacques Gréber designed the Parkway in 1917 to emulate the Champs-Élysées in Paris.