Why William Penn’s statue faces the way it does
The 37-foot-high figure of William Penn on City Hall, thought to be the largest and heaviest bronze statue atop a building in the world, points northeast toward Penn Treaty Park about 2.8 miles away on the Delaware River.
Why? That’s where Penn reportedly made a peace agreement with Tamanend, a chief of the Lenni-Lenape nation, under a large elm tree in 1683.
Alexander Milne Calder, creator of this statue and 250 more at City Hall, insisted that William Penn should face south and shine in the sun. Instead, he looks northward and is often in shadow.
The Public Building Commission agreed that Penn should face toward the park says the Philadelphia Inquirer. So he still faces northeast today.
Some Sources