The Planning of Center City Philadelphia :
From William Penn to the Present

John Andrew Gallery

When William Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1682, he created a visionary plan for its principal city, Philadelphia, and the immediate surrounding region. Over the past 325 years Penn's plan of the city has been modified by many individuals to reflect an evolving vision of a city both beautiful and practical.

The Planning of Center City Philadelphia: From William Penn to the Present traces these three centuries of planning history, from Penn's original concept to the design of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway—one of the significant monuments of the City Beautiful movement in the United States—to the mid-20th century urban renewal efforts that made Philadelphia a national leader in city planning and urban revitalization. Richly illustrated with historic maps and photographs, the book also includes brief biographical sketches of nine Philadelphians who have contributed significantly to the practice of city planning, including Paul Philippe Cret, Edmund N. Bacon, David A. Wallace, and Denise Scott Brown. Also included are five walking tours of Center City, where the results of this planning history can be seen and experienced most easily: Old City, Society Hill, City Hall East, City Hall West (Penn Center), and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The tours contain easily readable maps as well as photographs and descriptions of the most significant architectural landmarks in each area.

John Andrew Gallery is the Executive Director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and a Partner at Urban Partners. He created the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development and served as its first Director. For the Philadelphia Bicentennial Corporation, he was Coordinator and Vice President of Development as well as Consultant to the Mayor. Gallery was also the Senior Urban Designer at the Philadelphia City Planning Commission responsible for the design of Market East. He has authored several architectural guidebooks.

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