The Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute is a science museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that rents out its historic and modern spaces for private events. Franklin Hall, the main reception room, holds the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial under an 82 foot dome and is the only national monument outside Washington, D.C. that permits catered events inside it. Other bookable spaces include the Fels Planetarium, Pepper Hall, the Laureates Conference Center with its own rain garden entrance, and a rooftop deck that looks out over the Parkway. The museum runs an in-house catering operation and assigns a dedicated event manager to each booking, and it hosts corporate events, galas, fundraisers, and weddings in addition to its public science exhibits. A dedicated event parking garage sits a block away on North 21st Street. The combination of a working science museum with formal, columned event rooms is unusual among Philadelphia's cultural venues, and the building's central Parkway location puts it within walking distance of several other museums.