Center City Philadelphia

Contact Information:
Linda K. Harris, Director of Communications
lharris@centercityphila.org
215.440.5546

CCD Completes Renovation of Pocket Park on Chestnut Street

An enhanced Chestnut Park on the 1700 block of Chestnut Street will reopen on Wednesday, April 20, after a year of construction, celebrating with a series of intimate-scale concerts every Wednesday and Friday, between noon and 1:30 p.m., continuing until October 28.

The park was first proposed by Dorothy Haas after she visited Paley Park in Manhattan more than 30 years ago, and it was funded by the William Penn Foundation.
Originally designed by landscape architect John Collins, Chestnut Park was opened in 1981 and received an American Society of Landscape Architects award in 1983. The park design was augmented by sculpted iron gates, created by artist Christopher T. Ray, featuring trees and wildlife indigenous to the Wissahickon and Delaware Valleys. In early 2010, park ownership was transferred from the PenJerDel Foundation to the Center City District.

Renovations to the park, designed by KieranTimberlake architects and once again generously supported by the William Penn Foundation, include the restoration and relocation of Ray’s sculpted gates close to Chestnut Street, where they are now complemented by a new woven metal gate that makes the park more visible to pedestrians. The Ray gates on Ranstead Street were also restored and relocated.

New lighting, designed by The Lighting Practice, highlights the native vegetation, sculptural gates and the renovated fountain. Wolfe Scott Associates, Inc. supervised the construction with the assistance of Kreilick Conservation, who cleaned and restored the Christopher T. Ray gates. The new woven metal fence was fabricated by Amuneal Manufacturing Corporation. Fountain renovations were completed by Outerspaces.

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The Center City District, a private-sector sponsored business improvement district dedicated to making Center City Philadelphia clean, safe and attractive, is committed to maintaining Center City’s competitive edge as a regional employment center, a quality place to live, and a premier regional destination for dining, shopping and cultural attractions.