Zoo Junction

The Solitude Mansion is a historic two-and-a-half story Federal-style mansion located in west Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, above the banks of the Schuylkill River on the grounds of the Philadelphia Zoo. The house was built sometime between 1784 and 1785, and historical records suggest that it was designed by its owner John Penn, grandson of William Penn, the founder of the city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania. The mansion is also referred to as The Solitude and The Solitude House, as well as the John Penn House and simply Solitude without the definite article. The name of the house was inspired by the Duke of Württemberg's much larger Castle Solitude outside Stuttgart, Germany. The Solitude is the only extant home of a Penn family member in the United States.Located in the countryside several miles to the northwest of colonial-era Philadelphia, Penn's house served as his refuge from an older cousin's city home, where he had been lodging, as well as from an anti-Penn political faction in town. Penn lived in his new home for about three years until he left the country permanently in 1788 and sailed to England. Joseph Bonaparte lived here as a retreat from his home in society hill, and After Penn died in 1834, the house was inherited in succession by three other family members—Penn's brother and then two nephews separately.At some time after the final Penn owner died in 1869, the city bought the property and leased it to the Zoological Society of Philadelphia in 1874. The land and house then became part of the Philadelphia Zoo, which in turn is a part of Fairmount Park. The house is not open to general admission visitors, but rather only for special events. Rental information is available from the zoo.The zoo's staff along with the Philadelphia Museum of Art performed restoration work on the house in 1975–76 to prepare it for the Bicentennial celebration. A preservation group called Friends of The Solitude was formed in 1991 which has researched the house's history and continues to perform additional restoration work.The Solitude is registered on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and is an inventoried structure within the Fairmount Park Historic District entry on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Philadelphia Zoo, located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia, on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, is the first true zoo in the United States. It was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, but its opening was delayed by the Civil War until July 1, 1874. The zoo opened with 1,000 animals and an admission price of 25 cents. For a brief time, the zoo also housed animals brought over from safari on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution, which had not yet built the National Zoo.The Philadelphia Zoo is one of the premier zoos in the world for breeding animals that are difficult to breed in captivity. The zoo also works with many groups around the world to protect the natural habitats of the animals in their care. The zoo is 42 acres (17 ha) and the home of nearly 1,300 animals, many of which are rare and endangered. Special features include a children's petting zoo, a paddleboat lake, a rainforest themed carousel, a ropes course, and many interactive and educational exhibits.

Mantua is a neighborhood in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located north of Spring Garden Street, east of 40th Street, south of Mantua Avenue, and west of 31st Street. The neighborhood's northern and western reaches are predominantly working-class and African American, although its southern border with Powelton Village has seen recent gentrification and an influx of Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania student renters.

The Centennial District is a 700-acre section of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that contains the Philadelphia Zoo, the Please Touch Museum and the Mann Music Center. The neighborhood sits on a section of town that was the location of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, which was 100 years after the founding of the United States with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The area is part of a plan to incorporate parts of present-day Fairmount Park to revitalize neighborhoods in the area for the year 2026.

Zoological Garden station was a railroad station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was located at 34th Street and Girard Avenue, it served the Philadelphia Zoo and nearby areas. Built by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it closed in 1902 as the railroad expanded. The zoo has proposed that a new station be created at 34th Street and Mantua, though the complicated network of tracks, known as the zoo interlocking, presents engineering challenges. The zoo, recognizing that SEPTA lacks the necessary resources, is seeking funding from the federal government.

The Lighthouse on Turtle Rock is a lighthouse built in 1887 to aid traffic on the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The lighthouse was constructed by Frank Thurwanger at a cost of $2,663 on an area of land just west of Boathouse Row. The lighthouse has a hexagonal lantern room with an octagonal walkway. Gas was first used to power the light, but in 1990, when the lighthouse was repainted and received a new wooden balustrade and newel posts, the beacon was electrified.

Undine Barge Club is an amateur rowing club located at #13 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The club was founded in 1856. Undine was not initially listed as a founder of the Schuylkill Navy, but is now considered a founder because an Undine member, Mr. B. F. Van dyke, was elected to represent the club as secretary treasurer of the Navy from its birth in 1858. In 1860, Undine purchased Keystone Barge Club's (the 1st) boat and equipment, as Keystone had disposed of its boathouse.The club's name is derived from the Legend of Undine, and the club has an upriver house for social functions named Castle Ringstetten, which is the name of the castle in the legend. The boathouse and Castle Ringstetten were designed by renowned Victorian-era architect Frank Furness and exemplify his original ideas that laid the foundation for modern architecture.

Penn Athletic Club Rowing Association (commonly known as Penn AC) is an amateur rowing club located at #12 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Penn AC was founded in 1871 as the West Philadelphia Boat Club. Penn AC has been a destination for elite rowers looking to make the US National Team, ever since John B. Kelly Sr. joined Penn AC after a schism with his former club, Vesper.

The Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial is a sculpture garden located in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The garden, located along the left bank of the Schuylkill River between Boathouse Row and the Girard Avenue Bridge, was established by the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art) and dedicated in 1961. The idea for a series of sculptures came from Ellen Phillips Samuel, a philanthropist who left a significant amount of money to the art association in her will, with the stipulation that it be used to erect public sculptures that would represent the history of the United States. Following the death of Ellen in 1913 and her husband in 1929, the association organized a committee to oversee the creation of these monuments, with architect Paul Philippe Cret developing a plan for three connected terraces with distinct themes represented by the sculptures present in them. To select the sculptors for the memorial, the association organized three international art exhibitions held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1933, 1940, and 1949, that attracted hundreds of sculptors and saw attendances in the hundreds of thousands. The final sculpture was erected in 1960 and the memorial was dedicated the following year. The memorial has received generally mixed to negative reviews from art critics, with many criticizing the relationship between the sculptures and the surrounding architecture. For example, in a review of the memorial, architect Alfred Bendiner praised the architecture, but called the choice of sculptures "a most irritating collection of uninteresting examples of the work of outstanding men and women, most of whom have done much better elsewhere". Penny Balkin Bach, an executive director of the art association, has stated that the memorial is "as much a monument to the confusion about what constituted modern public art" as it is a memorial honoring Samuel.

The Girard Avenue Bridge is an automobile and trolley bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that carries Girard Avenue (U.S. Route 13) over the Schuylkill River. It connects the east and west sections of Fairmount Park, and the Brewerytown neighborhood with the Philadelphia Zoo. The current bridge is the third built on the site.

Letitia Street House is a modest eighteenth-century house in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It was built along the Delaware riverfront about 1713, and relocated to its current site in 1883. The house was once celebrated as the city residence of Pennsylvania's founder, William Penn (1644–1718); however, later historical research determined that he never lived there.

Boathouse Row is a historic site located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of 15 boathouses housing social and rowing clubs and their racing shells. Each of the boathouses has its own history, and all have addresses on both Boathouse Row and Kelly Drive (named after famous Philadelphia oarsman John B. Kelly Jr.). Boathouses #2 through #14 are part of a group known as the Schuylkill Navy, which encompasses several other boathouses along the river. Boathouse #1 is Lloyd Hall and is the only public boathouse facility on the Row. Boathouse #15 houses the Sedgeley Club, which operates the Turtle Rock Lighthouse. The boathouses are all at least a century old, and some were built over 150 years ago.