Paul Philippe Cret (1876-1945) was born in Lyon, France and was educated at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and then in Paris. He immigrated to the US in 1903 to teach at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1913, he was commissioned by the newly formed Rittenhouse Square Improvement Association to redesign Rittenhouse square (he designed the central plaza, the pool and the entrances to the square.)

As an architect, his major projects have made a lasting impact on the city of Philadelphia and include The Barnes Foundation (1923), the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (1926), which was the world’s largest suspension bridge when it opened, and the Rodin Museum (1926-1929) with French urban planner Jacques Gréber, who had designed the Parkway in 1917 to emulate the Champs-Élysées in Paris.