The Parkway / Paul Philippe Cret

The Parkway, also, Paul Philippe Cret. Parkway Museums District. , The Parkway , The concept for a Grand Boulevard in Philadelphia was first proposed in 1871. the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was based on plans prepared by Paul Philippe Cret, Horace Trumbauer and Clarence Zantzinger in 1907, and was envisioned as "a direct, dignified and interesting approach from the heart of the business and administrative quarter of the city, through the region of educational activities grouped around Logan Square, to the artistic center to be developed around the Fairmont Plaza, at the entrance to Philadelphia's largest and most beautiful park.", [Captions:] , A full scale model of the proposed Parkway was built in 1911 and displayed in City Hall. Cret was a member of the exhibition committee and advised on the construction of the model., Early drawing of the Parkway by Cret shows a bold Beaux-Arts influence inspired by the Avenue de Champs-Elysees in Paris with buildings adjacent to the roadway from Logan Square to Eakins Oval., The Rodin Museum by Cret, 1928, designed in the French Neoclassical Style., Paul Philippe Cret , 1876 - 1945 , One of the most influential forces in Philadelphia architecture in the early part of the 20th Century, Paul Philippe Cret was born in 1876 in Lyon, France. He arrived in the United States in 1903 accepting a position at the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture to teach the style of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was the only architect on the Art Jury (now known as the Art Commission). Cret returned to France to fight as a French patriot in World War I. Among Cret's most well-known works are The Philadelphia Parkway (The Benjamin Franklin Parkway), 1907; the renovation of Rittenhouse Square, 1913; The Barnes Foundation Art Museum, 1923; The Ben Franklin Bridge, 1926; and the Rodin Museum, 1928., [Captions:] , Plan for Rittenhouse Square by Cret, 1913, designed as a calm and elegant oasis in the heart of the city., Paul Cret was the supervising architect for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world when completed in 1926., Paul Philippe Cret, (pronounced "Cray")