Philadelphia Celebrates Edmund Bacon Day
Gregory Heller, President of the Ed Bacon Foundation said, “Today is an opportunity for us to celebrate the life and legacy of a great Philadelphian. It is also a time for us to keep Bacon’s legacy alive, and to recall his lifetime commitment to building a stronger city through visionary planning.”
Hollywood icon Kevin Bacon and sisters Karin, Elinor and Kira attended the ceremony. Kevin, who was raised at 21st & Locust, shared memories of walking through the city with his father and thanked the city for the tribute. Often referred to as “the father of Kevin Bacon” outside of architectural circles, Edmund Bacon was a celebrity long before his son.
“I grew up in the home of a wonderful, intelligent, and intensely gifted father,” Bacon noted “It’s a deep honor for me and my entire family, and we thank the Commonwealth and the City.”
Edmund Bacon was born in 1910 in Philadelphia. Educated in architecture at Cornell University, he first found work as a city planner in Flint, Michigan. From Flint, Bacon would return to his hometown as Director of the Philadelphia Housing Association. Bacon became Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in 1949, where his work brought him national attention. His bold moves and unique designs put him on the cover of Time Magazine in 1964 and the cover of Life in 1965.
Bacon conceived and implemented numerous large- and small-scale projects that shaped today’s Philadelphia. The design concepts that grew to become Penn Center, Market East, Penn’s Landing, Society Hill, Independence Mall, and the Far Northeast all originated with Bacon.
“His vision recreated this city, his leadership and drive made it happen,” explained Matt DeJulio of the Society Hill Civic Association. “The city and many of the neighborhoods are forever in his debt.”
“Bacon is considered by many to be either the savoir of urban Philadelphia, or at least the motivator for immense change and growth,” commented Heller.
Bacon is perhaps most internationally known for his design of LOVE Park, the famous plaza he designed while attending Cornell in 1932. Designed in collaboration with Vincent Kling, The large space, granite surfaces, and curved steps made the plaza attractive to skateboarding and in the1980s it became a popular location for skateboarders. LOVE Park became an international mecca for the skateboarding community, and actually helped secure the popular X-Games in 2001 and 2002 for Philadelphia.
In recent years, City Hall decided to implement a new development strategy that outlawed skateboarding in the park, as well as modified the existing space to be unwelcome to the homeless. Bacon became a darling of the national skateboarding community for protesting the Street administration’s renovations and policy on LOVE. In 2002, in his early 90’s, he skateboarded in the park as a protest against the city’s ban on the sport.
The effects of Bacon’s failed designs reverberate in modern neighborhoods. One of his proposals was to encircle Center City with a series of expressways, including the so-called “Crosstown Expressway” linking the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) with the Delaware Expressway I-95 via South Street. The proposal depressed property values and rents in the South Street corridor, though after the proposal was cancelled property values began a slow and tedious rebound, especially in the area east of Broad Street. This fluctuation in property values led to a turnover of the neighborhood’s character from largely Jewish-owned garment shops to the bohemian center that it is today.
After Bacon’s retirement from the Planning Commission in 1970, he served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania till 1987. Bacon continued to actively assert his vision for Philadelphia’s future in his later years. During the 1990s he proposed new concepts to improve Independence Mall, Penn’s Landing, and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Bacon’s style and leadership is missed in current Center City politics. When Bacon stepped down as planning director, a vacuum was created at the upper echelons of City Hall. Following decades of strong leadership and single purpose with Bacon, the city now timidly slinks towards the future, endlessly debating what to do with the Parkway or Penn’s Landing or even the Gallery.
“Edmond Bacon was a great example of how a political figure can have an impact on the built community,” explained Andrew Pletcher, an architect with Partridge Architects of Philadelphia ” He had great visionary skills and knew the importance of city planning. He understood how the physical parts of a city need to work together to create a complete whole so the city can continue to succeed.”
