Thomas Paine Plaza

This is taken from Thomas Paine Plaza, which is almost in the center of Center City Philadelphia. (Locals call the downtown area "Center City".) The closest visible buildings from here are the Masonic Temple, City Hall, and the Municipal Building. The architecturally important PSFS Building can be seen peeking from behind other buildings. (Only the "P" and "S" are visible). One Liberty Place (1987), the blue building with chevrons and the tallest in the city, was the first of many recent skyscrapers to be built higher than the 36 feet tall statue of William Penn at the top of City Hall Tower.

Because of tradition and The City of Philadelphia's Percent for Art Program, public art plays a large role in the city landscape. (1 percent of budgets for buildings are allocated to publicly accessible art.) Large scale game pieces (from Monopoly, Sorry, chess, checkers, bingo, and dominoes) can be seen around the plaza, part of a piece called "Your Move" (1997). The wheelbarrow from Monopoly is closest, with other pieces in the distance. The large black looming sculpture is "Covenant of the People".

City Hall itself is undergoing a rejuvenation with major cleaning and restoration. Having first lived in Philadelphia since 1989, I never realized that City Hall was made of gleaming white marble, having only seen a drab gray exterior. City Hall is home to hundreds of sculptures by Alexander Milne Calder, including the William Penn statue.

USA-Canada / USA-Pennsylvania

Lat: 39° 57' 11.9" N
Long: 76° 10' 48.2" W

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Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.