The historic center of Pennsylvania’s fastest-growing region

Center Square is the historic center of downtown Allentown, marked by an obelisk monument that celebrates the Goddess of Liberty at its apex. The 4.52-acre plaza is the true civic commons of Allentown – the site of protests, celebrations, festivals, parades, and quotidian life in the city. It is also at the convergence of Seventh and Hamilton Streets, Allentown’s civic promenade and retail corridor.

Omnes worked with the City of Allentown, PennDOT, LVPC, local stakeholders, and a multidisciplinary design team to develop a contemporary vision for this historic public space. The team also facilitated public engagement, including two pop-ups, digital surveying, and canvassing in order to glean the desires and priorities of the community.

This civic plaza re-centers the 99-foot-tall Soldiers and Sailor’s monument, inspired by the symbolism of laurel wreaths at its base that express unity and centrality. Determined by a district-wide traffic study, streets were narrowed with a road diet on both Hamilton and Seventh Streets. The new design reroutes traffic around the monument to unite it with the southeastern corner of the square, enhancing pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Users will be able to engage with the base of the monument through a stone ADA-accessible pathway at its base.

Custom stone benches with native Mount Airy granite have similar detailing to the Omnes-designed stone benches along Hamilton Street. The two half-circle planters at the base of the monument frame views of the monument, creating a focal point for photos. The Rotary Fountain will be enhanced at the southern edge of the site with a stone basin and custom-designed iron fountain. The fountain’s symbolism represents the history of downtown as well as cultural references from the Pennsylvania Dutch (a distelfink) and Puerto Rico (a flourish from the national flag). Omnes also designed a revised kiosk on site for historic signage, with the building doubling as a vent for the underground vaults.

Historic images are from the collection of the Lehigh County Historical Society.