Philadelphia’s Vibrant New Landmark

In honor of the United States’ 250th birthday, Philadelphia has a striking new landmark that helps to tell the city’s story in a novel way. The 16,000-square-foot mural “One Philly, A United City, With Love” depicts a series of postcards representing famous sights from the city where America was born two-and-a-half centuries ago.

City Hall’s signature clock tower; the luminous glow of Boathouse Row reflected in the Schuylkill River by night; a symphony of color emanating from a saxophone, in a nod to Philadelphia’s vibrant arts scene—all painted in brilliant shades of cerulean, magenta, marigold, and more. The visual story unfolds as people travel past the mural along the Schuylkill Expressway or on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains near William H. Gray III 30th Street Station.

“It’s beautiful, and it’s really a love letter to our city,” said Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, the largest public art program in the U.S. Mural Arts helped oversee the project, one of over 4,000 it has completed in collaboration with communities and artists in the past few decades.

“It's a way of saying thank you to the city that welcomed me as an artist … but also to try to represent what a lot of people feel about the city, that pride,” said San Salvador-born artist Carlos “Calo” Rosa of his latest work. Rosa, who has painted more than two dozen murals in the city since 2017, said the piece is also meant to “feel like a celebration.”

The Pew Charitable Trusts

The expansive artwork was commissioned by the city as part of the Gateways to Philadelphia anti-graffiti and highway beautification projects led by Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and Mural Arts.

Golden said that the city’s murals serve as an autobiography. “Collectively, it’s like this beautiful quilt. Every section is lovely and wonderful and inspiring, but you put [them] together, and you see our city in a way that has such depth and breadth.”

Rosa and his team brought this new mural to life in about two months, painting overnight from the side of the tracks whenever trains could safely be paused. With the aid of a 20-rung ladder, elevated platforms, and cherry pickers, Rosa and his team created the mural much like a giant paint-by-numbers project. First, they projected his artwork onto the wall. Next, Rosa traced the images’ outlines with spray paint and painted numbers onto the wall corresponding with the various paint colors needed. Other team members then fanned out in sections and filled in the various vignettes in unison using giant, long-handled rollers and generous coats of paint.

Asked his favorite part of the “One Philly, A United City, With Love” mural, Rosa smiled as he mentioned the saxophone and the sense of rhythm it conveys. “Joy is that feeling of colors moving and having this interaction with everything else,” he said. “My artwork comes from that explosion of color—a lot of color and movement and rhythm.”

The Gateways to Philadelphia project, which includes Rosa’s mural, is one of dozens of projects supported by grants from the Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial, a partnership between the Connelly Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Neubauer Family Foundation, Comcast Corp., The Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, and the Knight Foundation.

Pew also helped fund the June 13TED Democracy Philadelphia: Founding Futures event being held at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and hosted by Visit Philadelphia and the TED organization. The event aims to promote civic discourse and to help people find common ground via 15-plus TED Talks and conversations and dozens of speakers—including Pew President and CEO Susan K. Urahn and Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock. This event exploring vital questions about the past, present, and future of America’s democracy will also be livestreamed to 65 libraries throughout the country to allow people to participate nationwide.

TED Democracy Philadelphia: Founding Futures and the “One Philly, A United City, With Love” mural are among the scores of commemorations happening across Philadelphia—the place where our nation began—in celebration of the country’s 250th. This key milestone is also a moment to reflect on the future of the country and how we can all help to shape its next 250 years.

Erika Pontarelli Compart and Michael DeChant are on the editorial staff of Trust magazine.