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Benjamin Franklin Parkway
The Benjamin Franklin Parkways is also part of Fairmount Park. This mile-long boulevard connects the City of
Philadelphia to the greenery of Fairmount Park, stretching from JFK plaza to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Note that this diagonal artery was not part of William Penn's gridiron plan for the city.
Begun in 1917, the Parkway is the result of plans by Eli Kirk Price II, a former Fairmount Park Commissioner, and
later Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You can see work by architects Paul Cret, Wilson Eyre and Jacque
Greber, among others, along the Parkway.
Several styles of architecture are displayed along the Parkway; including French at the Rodin Museum, Central Library
and Municipal Court Building (the latter two being facsimiles of twin palaces on the Place de le Concorde in Paris);
Roman-Corinthian at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul; and Greek at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the
Franklin Institute.
The Parkway flows west to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's this panorama with trees, fountains and sculpture
that suggests the Philadelphia version of Champs Elysees.
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