Ascentive Around the City- The Ben Franklin Bridge

Erica from Ascentive shares photos from around the city

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge is crosses the Delaware river from Philadelphia, PA to Camden, NJ.   The bridge was completed on July 1, 1926 and held the title of World’s Longest Suspension Bridge until 1929.  The bridge is 533 meters long and accommodates passenger motor vehicles, railway trains, and pedestrians.

Here is a view of the Ben Franklin from the Ascentive offices!  Such a pretty view to see everyday.

A view of the city skyline from the Pedestrian Walkway headed into Camden, NJ.  It’s amazing to be able to turn around and see the skyline.

A picture along the walkway.  This is a popular route for runners and biking enthusiasts.  It’s also just a nice walk

A final view as we turned around to head off the bridge in Philadelphia.  I highly recommend taking the opportunity to walk across this massive bridge.  It does get pretty windy though!

The bridge also dedicates it’s lighting to specific causes at any given time.  On  June 1-5 it will have blue lighting to support the annual Badges of Honor 5K Run and Walk.  For more information, click here

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Ascentive Around the City- Fonthill Castle

Erica from Ascentive shares pictures of one of her favorite places, Fonthill Castle and Museum

Fonthill was built between 1908-1912 as the home of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930).  Mercer was an archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramist, scholar and antiquarian.  He built Fonthill both as his home and as a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints.  Fonthill is located in Doylestown, PA and is about 20 minutes from the city.

This is the view as you drive onto the castle grounds.  It’s been raining all week in the Philadelphia area so these pictures were taken in March of this year.  As you can imagine, the greenery this time of year makes this view even more spectacular.

This is the view looking at the front of Fonthill.  The castle was designed completely by Mercer himself, he hand picked all of the materials used and architectural style.  The building is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles.

Fonthill does not allow pictures to be taken from inside the castle (unfortunate, I know).  As you step out onto one of the balconies, you can clearly see that the entire castle is built using poured reinforced concrete.  Inside, many pieces of furniture such as bookcases and desks were also built using concrete.  Mercer was big on using recycled materials, he may have even been one of our earliest “green” living advocates.

The balcony above the second story is the same balcony that the previous picture was taken from.  The view of this castle from almost any angle is just amazing.

Fonthill offers tours of the castle and it’s grounds 7 days a week.  For more information about Fonthill or visiting the castle, click here.

Ascentive Around the City: University City Continued…

Rena from Ascentive shares more pictures of University City

St. Mary’s Church on Locust Walk in University City.  The church was founded in 1827 and offers beautiful architecture.

This group of bike racks is just down the street from the church on Locust Walk.  It’s amazing how many bikes there are.

The Kelly Family Gates on Penn’s campus at the Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall.  All the hands are using different tools for art, I really love this photo.

A close up of the hands on the Kelly Family Gates.  The 56 bronze hands are done in great detail, each hand holds tools relating to the making of art.

If you would like more information about St. Mary’s, click here

If you would like more information about The Kelly Family Gates, check out this article

Ascentive Around the City: Penn University

Rena from Ascentive takes a look around the University Of Penn, in West Philadelphia.

Penn is a huge sprawling campus, that takes up most of what is called the University City part of West Philly.

Penn was the brain child of Ben Franklin. Above is a picture of Ben hanging out on a park bench in the middle of Penn’s campus.

Penn’s campus is a mixture of Modern structures and old brick and stone buildings.

Above is one of the many older buildings which are old and very regal looking.

One of my favorite things to do on Penn’s campus is to walk down the Locust walk. It is a really beautiful walk, one which always makes me feel smarter (must be all the learning that is happening).

I’ve got plenty of more pictures of Penn, so I’ll share more of them next week.

Check out Penn here.

Ascentive Favorite Places: Love Park

Ascentive ‘s Rena gives us a look at Love Park.

The Love statue is probably one of the most iconic images of Philadelphia, besides perhaps the liberty bell. The Park is nice and normally busy.

The fountains are still empty. I’m sure there will be water soon, it continues to gets warmer. Although today has a little chill in the air.

Even though there is no water in the fountain, the park is still nice. There are a lot of flowers and trees. Although this is one of few daffodils still in bloom.

The Park is right in the middle of Center City, just off the 15th street stop. Its a nice place to eat lunch or hang out on the weekends.

Although if you come on the weekend in the summer, you won’t find the park empty. Its hard to see in the picture, but the Art Museum is far in the back ground.

For more information on Love Park, Click Here