Art Museum Area - Fairmount Park
The Territory: Girard Avenue and Spring Garden Streets, Broad Street extending to the beginning of Fairmount Park.
One of the most beautiful views of Philadelphia is that of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and city skyline as you approach the city from the west on Interstate 76. At the right time of day, the museum looks like an enormous golden temple perched on a hill. When you approach the museum area from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, however, your thoughts are likely to turn to the movie Rocky, as this is the side of the museum where Rocky trains by running up and down the steps. The now-famous Rocky statue is located at the bottom of the main steps, to the right, at street level.
While the Art Museum neighborhood is dominated by the architecturally impressive Philadelphia Museum of Art, there are several other notable museums there, including The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Rodin Museum, the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Please Touch Museum for children. The Moore College of Art is also part of the neighborhood. All are within walking distance of one another. In what is proving to be a major controversy among art aficionados, The Barnes Foundation, a spectacular collection of notable Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modernist paintings now located just outside Philadelphia, is moving to the Art Museum Area. The controversy is related to Dr. Albert Barnes’ stipulation in his will that his collection remain in the gallery on the grounds of his estate and that the collection be available to students for art education.
Anchoring the far end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and its many museums is Logan Square, one of the five original planned squares in the city of Philadelphia. The center of the Square contains Logan Circle and the famous Swann Fountain.
Besides easy access to art of all sorts, the other major draw of the Art Museum neighborhood is its proximity to Fairmount Park. You may hear some people refer to the Art Museum area as “Fairmount.” Fairmount Park consists of 63 neighborhood parks totaling 9,200 acres and is the largest city park in the U.S. By comparison, New York’s Central Park is only 843 acres. The park borders the Art Museum area, which means residents there have easy access to biking/jogging/walking paths and the green expanses many city dwellers crave.
The Mann Music Center is located in Fairmount Park and is a wonderful outdoor venue for all types of concerts. Check out the summer and fall schedules here.
Residential real estate in the Art Museum area includes a range of very large high-rise apartment condominium complexes, some of which include rental buildings, and tree-lined blocks of picturesque brick townhouses. Many of the buildings have shuttles to transport residents to Center City, though most of the business district and City Hall is very walkable from this neighborhood. The average price per square foot is about $290, a bargain compared to such Center City neighborhoods as Washington Square and Rittenhouse Square. At their highest, average per square foot rates are about $350.
The restaurant scene in the Art Museum area, as in most other Philadelphia neighborhoods, is diverse, and includes some longtime favorites, such as Jack’s Firehouse, London Grill, Brigid’s (extensive selection of Belgian and local beers) and North Star Bar (noted for its live music), as well as newcomers, like Figs, a Moroccan and Spanish restaurant very popular with the locals, Water Works, in the restored water works building along the famed Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill River.
For more information about Art Museum Area or Fairmount Park real estate, please phone our Philadelphia real estate office at 215.735.2225 or email us.
