You asked what’s up with these closed places and features in Philly. We found out.

I was surprised to read a recent story by my colleague, Nick Vadala, who set out to answer a reader’s question about why the cascade fountains along the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art haven’t worked in decades.

My astonishment mainly sprang from the fact that I didn’t know the fountains existed.

“Am I the least observant journalist ever?” I wondered.

As it turns out, I was not alone. Others on social media were bewildered by the story, too. (”There are fountains on the Art Museum steps?” one asked. “Never knew this about the fountains. Wow,” another said.)

The fountains — like the Art Museum and its famous Rocky steps — are owned by the city. Closed for repairs in 1995, they were scheduled to reopen the following year, but didn’t because the cost of repairs and maintenance exceeded available resources, said Maita Soukup, spokesperson for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees the fountains.

Seeing photos of the fountains in their heyday made me nostalgic for something I never knew existed and it made me wonder about what other spaces and features in Philly aren’t working or are no longer open, and whether they might return one day.

(At the top of everyone’s minds right now is the closure of the Greyhound bus station, which my colleague, Inga Saffron, recently tackled in her column on the subject.)

I wanted to know what else Philadelphians missed, so I put a callout on Twitter, asking: “What’s something that’s not functioning in Philly or is closed off to the public that you’d like to see working and/or accessible again?”

Some responses were too big, or too snarky, to tackle here, including: the Flyers; the Mayor’s Office; every school building; “my husband;” SEPTA; the sidewalks; and, my personal favorite, “They should definitely get the hydraulic fluid on the light poles working.”

But people also had questions I was able to find answers to. Below is a list of spaces and features in Philly that are closed, where they stand, and whether they will open again.

The chances we’ll ever see water flowing from the cascade fountains at the Art Museum again are slim to none.

“Due to safety concerns and a lack of funding, the city has no plans in place or funding sources identified for such a project,” Soukup said.

Not only would a river of cash be needed for repairs and maintenance, but while they were in operation, the fountains were used as pools by the public, and several swimmers suffered serious injuries diving into them.

Could they, perhaps, be repurposed as a space for public art, lighting, or even flower displays?

“The city and its partners are open to exploring options to repurpose the basins with a safer, more cost-effective design treatment for this iconic public space,” Soukup said.

A curious reader also asked about the Art Museum’s Perelman Building, which opened in 2007 and featured modern and contemporary art, along with the museum’s library. Like the museum itself, the building closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but unlike the museum, it never reopened.

According to Maggie Fairs, spokesperson for the Art Museum, the Perelman was slated to close at the end of the 2020 fiscal year anyway, and “the pandemic brought this timeline forward.”

Fairs said the closure is “part of a larger effort to rethink the visitor experience for the building.”

“There are currently no plans or a timeline for reopening,” she said via email.

The museum library and collections that were at the Perelman will continue to be housed on-site there, Fairs said.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, the sidewalk in front of Independence Hall was a public space and a chance to get up close to history. But after 9/11, it was cordoned off in the name of security.

While the unsightly bike racks that once fenced off the sidewalk are gone, the bollards remain and security guards are quick to stop anyone who tries to walk on the south side of the 500 block of Chestnut Street.

Andrew McDougall, spokesperson for Independence National Historical Park, said the area is open to the public, but people must pass through a security screening to access the space (no tickets are required).

When I asked if the sidewalk closure was temporary or permanent, he said it’s neither because it is not closed to the public. OK, technically it’s not closed, but I don’t know many Philadelphians who will go through a security screening just to walk down the street.

“There may be a way to reconfigure this at some point in the future and still maintain a secure zone around Independence Hall,” McDougall said via email.

Several people wanted to know the status of SEPTA’s pedestrian tunnels under Center City. According to SEPTA spokesperson John Golden, it’s still possible to walk underground in the concourses from Eighth and Market Streets to 18th Street and JFK Boulevard.

“To do so you will need to use the Fashion District between 8th and 11th Street,” Golden said via email. “To travel between the Juniper and 15th Street underground, you will need to pay to access the concourse area for City Hall Station. This is not new and was the case prior to the pandemic.”

But some parts do remain closed, including the concourses that loop down from the South Market concourse under City Hall and Dilworth Park to the South Broad concourse, as well as the upper end of the South Broad concourse itself, which remains closed for “maintenance and security concerns,” Golden said.

That concourse is home to a 2020 Mural Arts project, “Color Me Back,” which can only be viewed now with advance notice by calling 215-925-3633 or sending an email to: tours@muralarts.org.

The concourse under 15th Street and JFK Boulevard is closed and isn’t scheduled to reopen in the foreseeable future, but one area that may open later this year is the Center City District’s concourse under Dilworth Park that connects to the circular underground space known as the “oculus” that SEPTA installed in 2018, according to Golden.

The concourse under Locust Street that connects PATCO’s 12th-13th Street and 15th-16th Street stations remains closed indefinitely due to “issues related to homeless encampments, maintenance and security,” Golden said.

Speaking of PATCO, several people asked the status of the return of PATCO’s Franklin Square Station at Seventh and Race Streets, which first opened in 1936 and closed in 1979.

Responding directly to a reader who tagged them in my callout on Twitter, PATCO confirmed that the station is still on track to open in 2024. Mike Williams, PATCO spokesperson, said the station is expected to open in the spring.

Many parents and book lovers were curious about whether the Free Library of Philadelphia, which has faced funding and staffing shortages, would offer weekend hours at neighborhood branches again during the summer.

In late June, the Free Library announced 10 of its 54 neighborhood branches will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays from July 8 to Aug. 26 (the same 10 that were open on Saturdays this spring).

While I wish every branch were open on both weekend days, it’s a start. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only the main branch and three regional branches held summer Saturday hours.

To see a full list of libraries open on Saturdays this summer, visit freelibrary.org.

One reader asked me about the Tuttleman IMAX Theater at the Franklin Institute, the status of which has also been the topic of a discussion thread on Philadelphia’s subreddit.

The theater, which opened in 1990, shut down at the start of COVID-19, but didn’t reopen when the museum did, and there’s currently no mention of it on the institution’s website.

Stefanie Santo, Franklin Institute spokesperson, said future plans for the IMAX theater are “still undetermined” and no additional information was available.

Another question from a reader that also came up on Philly’s subreddit was about the status of the Strawberry Green Driving Range in Strawberry Mansion.

Folks last checked in at the driving range on Facebook in October 2022, but it hasn’t opened this year and the number listed for the range is disconnected.

Located in Fairmount Park, the range is on city-owned land but is operated by a third party on a five-year concession agreement with the city’s Parks and Rec Department, said Soukup.

While typically open May to October, the range is temporarily closed, and Soukup said it’s expected to reopen under new management for “an abridged season” later this year.

The observation deck, which opened in 2015 and provided panoramic views of the city from One Liberty Place’s 57th floor, was operated by M56, a Paris-based group that runs observation decks around the world.

According to Kevin Mayer, director at Cushman & Wakefield, which manages One Liberty Place, the observation deck space was leased by M56, which suspended operations in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and later, permanently closed the deck.

The space is now being marketed for lease as an office “with some of the best views in the city,” Mayer said via email.

While we may never be able to observe Philly from the One Liberty Observation Deck again, tower tours of City Hall, which also provide panoramic views of Philadelphia, have resumed. Tickets can be purchased through the Philadelphia Visitor Center.