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Three generations of Calder art on the Parkway

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Construction is continuing on Calder Gardens, the long-awaited showcase for the art of Philadelphia native Alexander Calder, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 21st and 22nd Streets.

Aug. 2, 1999: On loan to the city for six months, "Eagle" a 40 foot sculpture by Alexander Calder, is installed on the terrace of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The work is what Calder, the inventor of the mobile, called a "stabile" - a stationary mobile.
Aug. 2, 1999: On loan to the city for six months, "Eagle" a 40 foot sculpture by Alexander Calder, is installed on the terrace of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The work is what Calder, the inventor of the mobile, called a "stabile" - a stationary mobile.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
    by Inquirer Staff Photographers
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When it opens in late 2024 or early 2025 the gardens will also honor the Calder family’s artistic legacy in Philadelphia and three generations of their presence on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Calder’s grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder, created the figure of William Penn atop City Hall - and over 250 other works of sculpture on the exterior and interior of the building - from 1871-1901. Calder’s father, Alexander Stirling Calder, designed and created the Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Square that opened in 1924. Calder’s own 1968 Three Discs, One Lacking is on the Parkway at 17th Street.

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