Philadelphia Heroes
Everywhere you go, a Billy, Ben or George
Center City
On top of City Hall Tower, Alexander Milne Calder’s mammoth William Penn gazes out across the city. Nearby, at the northwest corner of Broad Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Benjamin Franklin, Craftsman, by Joe Brown, shows a young, muscular Ben at his printing press. For George Washington, look in Washington Square for a noble bronze rendering, cast from a famous marble sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon.
Historic District and Old City
In front of Independence Hall stands another George Washington, this one by Joseph Alexis Bailly. At Franklin Court, architects Robert Venturi and John Rauch created the Ghost Structures, steel frameworks tracing the outlines of Ben Franklin’s vanished house and print shop. Ben is also memorialized in Isamu Noguchi’s Bolt of Lightning, a giant steel sculpture representing Franklin’s famous kite-flying experiment. If you haven’t found William Penn in Old City, look in Welcome Park, on Second Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, for a smaller replica of Calder’s City Hall sculpture, along with a layout of Penn’s original street plan for the city.