Philly Free Streets is back this summer, and this time it’s taking over a huge stretch of North Broad.
The Vision Zero initiative works to close city streets to cars for an entire day — inviting people to walk, bike and play on roads that would normally be blocked by traffic. In 2016, the first iteration of the event went down on South Street. And in October of last year, the party came to seven miles from Fairhill to Old City.
For its third run, the car-free event is larger than ever. On Aug. 11, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. the street from City Hall to Erie Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic. That means eight miles will be open for strolling and cycling and touring North Broad.
The city has announced some official programming for the day, including live jazz, scavenger hunts, sidewalk drawing and jump rope, but there’s already plenty to do. This stretch of roadway is home to countless beautiful landmarks — including murals, old factories, buildings and train stations all the way from the Gilded Age.
Here are 17 landmarks you shouldn’t miss during Philly Free Streets 2018.
Ford Motor Company
At Broad and Lehigh, there stands a 10-story, 500,000-square-foot building. In the early 1900s, it housed the Philadelphia Ford Motor Company — responsible for manufacturing about 150 cars every day.
It went up for sale in 1925, when Ford wanted to upgrade to a newer facility on the Chester waterfront. Back then, the asking price for the building was a rich $1,725,000.
North Broad Street Station
Designed in 1928, the train station at Lehigh boasts neoclassical architecture and huge, beautiful columns. It was once a stop on the Reading Railroad, and it sat across the street from the Baker Bowl, the Phillies’ old ballpark.
(Doesn’t seem like it was very good luck — the year the station was built, The Phillies finished eighth in the National League, 51 games behind first-place St. Louis Cardinals.)
Dropsie College
A school for the scientific study of ancient languages, Dropsie College was built in 1905 with limestone columns characteristic of the Gilded Age. The college closed in 1981 after arson nearly destroyed its library.
Uptown Theater
This 2,040-seat theater was first built in 1929, but it hit peak popularity during the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, when it became one of the most well-known places on the East Coast to hear live soul and R&B music.
Grover Washington Jr. mural
This Mural Arts project, first painted in 2001, pays tribute to the famous saxophonist who once called Philly home.
“If you look at it and shut your eyes, you can almost hear his music,” Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden told WRTI.
Temple Performing Arts Center
Once called the Grace Baptist Church, this 19th century building was the first to house Temple University. In 1882, Temple Founder Russel Conwell agreed to tutor a young man with no money at the church.
Conwell acquired more and more students, until he agreed to open a night school out of the church. It became a popular spot for important guests — Martin Luther King Jr. and President Franklin D. Roosevelt both spoke there.
Cecil B. Moore Station
At this Broad Street Line stop, SEPTA unveiled beautiful mosaics honoring civil rights activist and North Philly resident Cecil B. Moore. In the 1960s, Moore was instrumental in the fight to desegregate Girard College.
The station was first dedicated to Moore in 1995, and renovated to include the mosaics in 2013.
Burk Mansion
Alfred Burk, the president of a leather manufacturing firm, bought a plot of land at Broad and Jefferson in 1906, and he commissioned a gigantic mansion in its place. Legend has it Burk told famous architect Edward Simon to spare no expense.
The mansion is currently owned by Temple.
Freedom Theatre
Founded in 1966, this is Pennsylvania’s oldest African American theater.
In the last few years, construction has begun on a 17-story apartment building right next door to the Freedom Theatre, and rumors have circulated that the theater was set to close in favor of new development.
But so far, the theatre still stands, ready to be appreciated at Broad and Master.
The Blue Horizon
Back in 1865, this facility was originally meant to be a fancy, residential property — until it became the best place to watch a fight in the country.
The property was converted into a boxing ring in the 1960s, and The Ring magazine voted it the best one in the United States. The owner had to sell the property in 2010 due to mounting property taxes, at which point the ring closed permanently.
Cecil B. Moore mural
That same civil rights activist from the subway station? There’s a mural at Broad and Girard honoring him too — and the Cecil B. Moore community that has been named after him.
After Oscar Hammerstein built several theaters in New York — including The Metropolitan Opera of New York City — he did what all sensible NYC residents do. He moved to Philly.
There, he built the Metropolitan Opera House of Philadelphia, which is now being redeveloped into a LiveNation venue.
The Divine Lorraine
The Divine Lorraine Hotel was at one time a luxury hotel in North Philly. Built in the 1890s, it was the first of its kind in the United States to be racially integrated.
‘Common Threads’ mural
Among the more contemporary of these sites, this mural at Broad and Spring Garden was completed in May of 2016.
Painted by artist Meg Saligman, Common Threads depicts a young African American woman named Tameka Jones — then a student at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts — standing among people dressed as historical figures.
Inquirer Building
For 92 years, the Philadelphia Inquirer was headquartered in a building at Broad and Callowhill — that’s clear by the Inquirer sign that still hangs in front of the 400 N. Broad St. property.
Soon, that might change. The city announced last year its plans to renovate the building and move in Philadelphia Police Department headquarters.
Masonic Temple
Built in 1873, this temple has been called one of the great “wonders” of the Masonic world. Within the building, there’s a library and a museum, which maintain thousands of texts and artifacts on the history of the oldeset fraternal organization in the world, Freemasonry.
