Fairmount/Art Museum

The Fairmount/Art Museum area is one of the greener, more expensive areas in Philadelphia, filled with settled homeowners and renters. It is named for the bordering Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is one of the largest art museums in the country. The area reflects the surrounding arts and culture in both aesthetic appeal and lifestyle.

Aside from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, other cultural landmarks include the Rodin Museum, the Perelman Building and the beautiful Boathouse Row, which has been featured in a variety of paintings and photographs since its construction in the early 19th century. It is home to 15 boathouses, where rowing and social clubs practice and mingle. Another draw is Eastern State Penitentiary, a former prison that is open for tours year-round, and is converted into a large-scale haunted house for a few months leading up to Halloween.

All of these attractions draw a large crowd of tourists, however since residential streets are set off from the main drag, foot traffic is not an issue. The residential areas do still see an active nightlife; popular nightspots include Fairmount Avenue, which features corner coffee shops and bars, like Bishop’s Collar and Urban Saloon. These places tend to draw a professional crowd, ranging from mid twenties to mid forties.

Most of the homes are row homes with historic architectural details, and some have small front yards and gardens – something very hard to come by in the city. The area is well maintained since buyers outnumber renters. These buyers are typically people who work downtown but don’t want to be surrounded by the extreme hustle and bustle of Center City.

Parking is easy to find, but traffic can be an issue on weekends due to the close proximity to the museum district. The area is safe, but as you head out of bounds towards North Broad Street, you need to be more aware of your surroundings. Overall, the area is a highly populated nook of Philadelphia, known for culture and artistic relevance.

The Fairmount neighborhood is one of the nicest residential sections of Philadelphia with newly renovated row homes. Obviously this makes it one of the most expensive areas to live in; a number of the residents are homeowners. Fairmount is surrounded by amazing architecture like that of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Eastern State Penitentiary. It’s one of the few neighborhoods, like parts of West Philadelphia that has managed to keep greenery around it. This has a lot to do with the residents of this neighborhood maintaining its appearance.

There is a lot to do around Fairmount as it is close to the Parkway, the hub of museums in Philadelphia but there are also small coffee shops and dining establishments throughout the neighborhood. They are a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the touristy part of the district.

Parking is relatively easy with some sections being limited to a 2 hours. During the Halloween season the neighborhood gets a little hectic with the high volume of traffic attracted by Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls, the annual haunted walkthrough attraction. It brings in thousands of people but those affiliated with the event are great about respecting those who live in the neighborhood.
Overall, Fairmount is great neighborhood to visit all year round if you can’t afford to live there.