Philadelphia’s first new urban park in decades was unveiled Oct. 18 with a special guest – the son of the remarkable African-American architect for whom the park is named.
Julian Abele II, of Ocala, Fla., thanked Philadelphia Green, the city and the community for their efforts in establishing the park at 22nd and Montrose Streets and for naming it after his father, who worked on the designs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Abele was the first African-American graduate of the architecture program of the University of Pennsylvania. The Abeles lived in the new park’s South Philadelphia neighborhood for many years.
Plans to transform a vacant lot into the park began about five years ago, and the Community Design Collective initiated the process. Philadelphia Green, PHS’ urban revitalization program, was then invited to revise the design and create a master plan for the site.
The first phase – including trees, grass, benches and lamp posts – has been completed, except for a paved path that will run along the circumference of the park. Funding was provided by the city, the William Penn Foundation and Citizens Bank.
“This is an example of a neighborhood liability that has been turned into a neighborhood treasure,” said Joan Reilly, senior director of Philadelphia Green.
Darlene Branch-Smith, who has lived a block from the site for the last 30 years, agreed.
“There were no green spots where you could just sit and look and think. There was just building, building, building,” she said. Branch-Smith is looking forward to planting trees and shrubs during the next phase of the project.
“The park is going to be beautiful,” she said.
Other speakers at the Oct. 18 ribbon-cutting for Julian Abele Park were City Committee member Deborah Hopkins; Terry Gillen, executive director of the city Redevelopment Authority; Barbara McCabe, parks coordinator for the Recreation Department; Gregorio Cojulun, president of the Friends of Malcolm X Memorial Park; Kenyatta Johnson, Democratic nominee for state representative in the 186th District; and State Senator Anthony Williams.
FOR PRESS INFORMATION, CONTACT:
ALAN JAFFE, email or call 215-988-8833
LAURA BEITMAN, email or
call 215-988-8836
