# University of Pennsylvania Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: one building and the weekend's light to photograph on campus and in University City > Penn Family Weekend, October 23 to 25, 2026: the one campus wall that lines up with the low evening sun, the light beside the Yale game, University City and Center City between events, where to stand for the family picture, and when the campus walls next line up. This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-penn-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page. Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 17 of 26. Previous school: [Fordham University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-fordham-family-weekend-2026). Next school: [Haverford College](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-haverford-family-weekend-2026). *The Hill Pavilion of Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine, the one wall in this guide and the family photo spot, in Henge Days. Pink marks the west-southwest wall that the evening sun lines up with on Family Weekend.* For October 23 to 25, 2026. The University of Pennsylvania's Family Weekend runs from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, 2026. Henge Days checked every named building on the campus, in University City and on the near side of Center City for a wall the low sun lines up with on those days. One wall passed every check, at the Hill Pavilion on Woodland Walk. This guide gives that wall, the weekend's light beside its events, a spot for the family picture and the days the campus walls next line up. Post yours with #HengeDays. In this article - [The weekend's schedule and the light](#the-weekend-s-schedule-and-the-light) - [Part 1: the Penn campus](#part-1-the-penn-campus) - [Part 2: University City and Center City](#part-2-university-city-and-center-city) - [When the campus walls line up](#when-the-campus-walls-line-up) - [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made) - [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry) For a level horizon, the sun rises over the campus at 7:19, 7:20 and 7:21 AM and sets at 6:09, 6:08 and 6:07 PM, Friday to Sunday. Every time in this guide is US Eastern, Eastern Daylight Time. The sun rises at 105 degrees and sets at 255. ### The weekend's schedule and the light Penn's own pages did not load from where this guide was written, on October 17, so the schedule comes from web search summaries. The search reached the Office of Student Affairs [Family Weekend page](https://osa.universitylife.upenn.edu/fw) only in its 2025 version, for October 24 to 26, 2025, and found no 2026 program. The one 2026 event it found for these days is the Penn football game against Yale at Franklin Field on Saturday, October 24, from the [Penn Athletics 2026 schedule](https://pennathletics.com/news/2026/5/27/2026-football-schedule-announced-ahead-of-150th-anniversary-of-program.aspx). The summaries gave no kickoff time. In 2025 the weekend opened on Friday with a kick-off for families hosted by the President ([Office of the President](https://president.upenn.edu/event-galleries/family-weekend-kick-off-2025)). Check the Family Weekend page for the 2026 program and match it to the light below. - Friday, October 23: sunrise at 7:19 AM and sunset at 6:09 PM. The Hill Pavilion (the entry below) lines up with the sun at 5:45 PM, 3.7 degrees up, the clearest of the three evenings. - Saturday, October 24: sunrise at 7:20 AM and sunset at 6:08 PM. Penn plays Yale at Franklin Field. The Hill Pavilion lines up at 5:47 PM, 3.3 degrees up. It stands about 800 m west of Franklin Field, so if the game ends by late afternoon, the pavilion fits after it. - Sunday, October 25: sunrise at 7:21 AM and sunset at 6:07 PM. The Hill Pavilion lines up at 5:48 PM, 2.8 degrees up, the lowest sun of the weekend. - Mornings: no campus wall lines up with the sunrise this weekend. For a sunrise picture, the South Street Bridge (Part 2) faces the sun over the Schuylkill River at 7:19 to 7:21 AM. ### Part 1: the Penn campus Most of the campus stands on Philadelphia's street grid. College Hall, Van Pelt Library, Houston Hall, Huntsman Hall, the Palestra and Hill College House all have walls that face 98 to 100 degrees and 278 to 281 degrees. The sun rose square to the east walls from October 7 to 12, two weeks before Family Weekend. By October 23 it rises at 105 degrees, and it sets at 255, far south of the west walls. The south walls face 188 to 190 degrees and meet the sun head-on a little after 1:00 PM, about 38 degrees up. Penn's diagonal walks put some buildings off the grid, and a few of those walls face the low sun. Most of them stand behind a taller neighbor. The houses of the Quad face 249 degrees, but the next house rises 46 to 50 degrees toward the sun from in front of each wall. Perry World House faces the sunrise, behind Huntsman Hall. The Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology faces it too, behind a neighboring building, and Skirkanich Hall stands behind the David Rittenhouse Laboratories. The Ryan Veterinary Hospital's west wall faces into its own wing. The one wall with a clear view is at the Hill Pavilion, which follows Woodland Walk. #### 1 Hill Pavilion University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wall west-southwest, facing 252° Sun The low evening sun lines up with this wall on Oct 23 to 25. Best: Sunday, October 25 at 5:48 PM, 2.8° above the horizon. Leaves Philadelphia is among the last parts of Pennsylvania to turn. A foliage tracker issued on October 12 projects Philadelphia County as the last county in the state to peak, around October 26 ([More Than Just Parks](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/pennsylvania)). Where to stand The pavilion stands between Woodland Walk and Baltimore Avenue, and its walls follow the walk, off the street grid. The wall is the west-southwest end of the building, 13 m in two sections: 10 m at the corner and 3 m beside it. Stand on the path west of the building, which runs from Woodland Walk toward Baltimore Avenue, about 10 m from the wall, with the sun behind you. Stay out of Baltimore Avenue. The sun lines up with the wall at 5:45 PM on Friday, 5:47 PM on Saturday and 5:48 PM on Sunday, 3.7, 3.3 and 2.8 degrees up. These are golden days: at the head-on moment the sun is 2 to 6 degrees up. The whole wall is in the sun at those moments in the outlines. The highest building toward the sun is about 330 m away and rises 2.3 degrees. Trees along the walk and the avenue are not part of the check. The wall's row runs to October 31, when the sun lines up at the horizon at 5:57 PM. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. The Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion is the academic center of Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine, with surgery centers, teaching and library space, research laboratories and two auditoriums on the ground floor ([Penn Today](https://penntoday.upenn.edu/node/149520)). Vernon and Shirley Hill gave $10 million toward it ([Penn Today](https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/vernon-and-shirley-hill-pledge-10-million-penns-school-veterinary-medicine)). It opened in the fall of 2006, the first new veterinary building on the main campus in about 25 years ([The Daily Pennsylvanian](https://www.thedp.com/article/2006/07/new-vet-facility-to-open-in-oct)). *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 252°, toward the sunset on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Mon, Oct 19 to Sat, Oct 31, 2026**13 evenings · best Sat, Oct 31 **5:57 PM** Golden sunset, sun 0° up WSW 252° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/39.94992,-75.20020?q=Hill+Pavillion%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Fway%2F59435617&facade=0&d=2026-10-19) Family photo spot. Stand the family on the path a few steps out from the Hill Pavilion's west-southwest wall, turned partway toward the camera. The photographer stands west-southwest of them, with the sun low behind and to one side, which lights faces and the wall behind them in the same warm light. The wall is 13 m long, so frame the family close. Go on Friday at 5:45 PM, when the sun stands highest above the buildings toward it, or on Sunday at 5:48 PM, when it is lowest. On Saturday, 5:47 PM falls after the Yale game if it is played in the afternoon. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. For a picture with College Hall, its long north front faces 8 degrees, toward College Green and Locust Walk. The sun never reaches that front this weekend, so it stands in even shade at every hour, with no hard shadows on faces. ### Part 2: University City and Center City No building in University City or Center City has a wall that lines up with this weekend's sunrise or sunset with a clear view. The Radian on Walnut Street faces the sunset, but the Rotunda stands in front of it. Avira, west of 30th Street Station, faces the sunrise behind the station. The FMC Tower's east wall gets golden light on Sunday at 7:58 AM, 6.0 degrees up, but it faces the rail tracks, with no public place to stand in front of it. So the neighborhood is for the hours between events. University City runs west and north of the campus. 40th Street has restaurants and shops at the campus's west edge, and Clark Park is about 1.4 km southwest of College Hall. The Woodlands, a cemetery and historic estate at 4000 Woodland Avenue, is about 900 m southwest. The east-southeast front of its [Hamilton Mansion](https://hengedays.com/at/39.94570,-75.20374?q=Hamilton+Mansion%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Fway%2F32122035&facade=5&d=2026-10-23) lines up with the sunrise at the horizon from October 20 to 23, last on Friday at 7:21 AM. The sun is then 0 degrees up, so the ground and the estate's trees stand in the way, and the mansion is left out of the list. Check the cemetery's hours before you go. Drexel University's Main Building is about 700 m northeast of College Hall, and 30th Street Station about 1.1 km. For the sunrise, walk to the South Street Bridge, about 1 km southeast of College Hall, and stand on its sidewalk. The sun rises at 105 degrees, east-southeast, over the Center City bank of the Schuylkill River, at 7:19 AM on Friday, 7:20 AM on Saturday and 7:21 AM on Sunday. The Schuylkill River Trail runs along the east bank below the bridge. Center City is across the river. Rittenhouse Square is about 1.9 km east of College Hall, and City Hall about 2.6 km. The Philadelphia Art Museum stands at the top of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, about 1.9 km northeast of College Hall. Its front and its steps face southeast, 134 degrees, and the sun stands square to them at about 10:00 AM, 26 degrees up. Search summaries of the museum's visit page list Friday hours of 10:00 AM to 8:45 PM and Saturday and Sunday hours of 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM ([Philadelphia Art Museum](https://www.philamuseum.org/visit)). Boathouse Row is a short walk northwest of the museum. The east side of #14 Boathouse Row lines up with the sunrise at the horizon on Saturday at 7:22 AM, but the boathouse beside it stands in front. On campus, the Penn Museum's ticket page, as a search summary returned it, lists adult admission at $23 and reports that the Egyptian galleries reopen on December 12, 2026 ([Penn Museum](https://penn.museum/tickets)). Check hours before you go. ### When the campus walls line up The landmarks a family asks about first face the grid, and the grid's days fall outside Family Weekend. Their next days, when the sun stands square to the wall at the horizon, from the same engine. Each name opens the wall in Henge Days. - [College Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/39.95148,-75.19375?q=College+Hall%2C+University+of+Pennsylvania%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Fway%2F51367353&facade=21&d=2027-03-03): the east wall, 78 m facing 98 degrees, lines up with the sunrise from March 3 to 6, 2027, and again from October 8 to 10, 2027. It last lined up from October 7 to 10, 2026. - [Van Pelt Library](https://hengedays.com/at/39.95270,-75.19391?q=Van+Pelt+Library%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Fway%2F32120084&facade=5&d=2027-03-02): the east wall, 62 m facing 99 degrees, lines up with the sunrise from March 2 to 5, 2027, and again from October 9 to 11, 2027. - [Huntsman Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/39.95296,-75.19822?q=Huntsman+Hall%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Fway%2F32119282&facade=16&d=2027-04-09): the west wall on Locust Walk, 96 m facing 281 degrees, lines up with the sunset from April 9 to 11, 2027, and again from August 30 to September 2, 2027. - [30th Street Station](https://hengedays.com/at/39.95602,-75.18203?q=30th+Street+Station%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Fway%2F32272623&facade=4&d=2027-03-02): the east front, 194 m facing 99 degrees, lines up with the sunrise from March 2 to 4, 2027, and again from October 9 to 11, 2027. - [City Hall](https://hengedays.com/at/39.95240,-75.16359?q=Philadelphia+City+Hall%2C+Philadelphia%2C+PA&b=osm%2Frelation%2F4720912&facade=19&d=2027-03-02): the east front, 164 m facing 99 degrees, lines up with the sunrise from March 2 to 4, 2027, and again from October 9 to 12, 2027. No building in the outlines fetched for this guide stands in front of it. At College Hall, Van Pelt Library, Huntsman Hall and 30th Street Station, a neighboring building rises higher than the sun at those moments in the outlines. The days and times are computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. ### How the list was made Henge Days computed every named building within 250 to 350 meters of 12 points: College Green with College Hall and Van Pelt, the Quad with Huntsman Hall and the Annenberg Center, Locust Walk west and 40th Street, the Penn Museum with Franklin Field and the Palestra, the Singh Center with Hill College House and the LOVE statue, Penn Park, Clark Park, the Woodlands, Drexel's Main Building, 30th Street Station and the Cira tower, the Schuylkill River Trail at the South Street Bridge, and Rittenhouse Square. A second pass added 8 points: Penn Medicine on Civic Center Boulevard, Market Street and the Science Center, the Hamilton Village high-rises, the blocks north of 30th Street Station, Schuylkill Banks at Walnut Street, City Hall, the Art Museum and the Parkway, and Boathouse Row. It used OpenStreetMap outlines. It kept walls where the sun lines up with the wall within 6 degrees of the horizon on at least one day from Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25. It then traced the sun's path from each wall, against all 2,028 outlines it had fetched, and dropped walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun. That check left four walls. Each one was then checked at points every 3 m along the wall, and on its map for its own building, or a building attached to it, standing in front of it. The Ryan Veterinary Hospital lost its view to its own wing, and the New Mill House of the Fairmount Water Works to the Old Mill House attached to it. The FMC Tower's east wall faces the rail tracks, with no public place to stand. The Hill Pavilion is the one wall left. Penn's grid walls face 98 to 100 degrees and 278 to 281 degrees, and this weekend's sun rises at 105 degrees and sets at 255, so the grid misses it. Hills and trees are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. Each search returns at most 200 buildings, and 6 of the 20 reached that limit, all of them off the campus. Where a neighboring building's outline carries no height, the check assumed about three stories. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine for the wall's own bearing, in Eastern Daylight Time. ### How to read each entry The entry shows the building as Henge Days shows it. The map marks the building's outline from OpenStreetMap, gives every wall its compass bearing, and highlights the wall that lines up with the sun. Below it are the wall's row from the building's Henge days list, with a Save button that keeps the best day in your planner, and a year of head-on days for every wall. The Clear view line is the result of the check for other buildings on the best day. Each building name in the lists opens that building in Henge Days. Any building has a page like the one above, your student's college house included. Whatever you shoot, post it with #HengeDays: [Look up a building](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) ### Sources - [Penn Office of Student Affairs: Family Weekend (2025 version)](https://osa.universitylife.upenn.edu/fw) - [Penn Office of the President: Family Weekend Kick-Off, 2025](https://president.upenn.edu/event-galleries/family-weekend-kick-off-2025) - [Penn Athletics: 2026 football schedule](https://pennathletics.com/news/2026/5/27/2026-football-schedule-announced-ahead-of-150th-anniversary-of-program.aspx) - [Penn Today: New Vet School building opens](https://penntoday.upenn.edu/node/149520) - [Penn Today: Vernon and Shirley Hill pledge $10 million to Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine](https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/vernon-and-shirley-hill-pledge-10-million-penns-school-veterinary-medicine) - [The Daily Pennsylvanian: New vet facility to open in October](https://www.thedp.com/article/2006/07/new-vet-facility-to-open-in-oct) - [Penn Museum: Tickets](https://penn.museum/tickets) - [Philadelphia Art Museum: Visit](https://www.philamuseum.org/visit) - [More Than Just Parks: Pennsylvania foliage tracker](https://morethanjustparks.com/foliage-tracker/pennsylvania) - [Building outlines: OpenStreetMap contributors](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) ### The newsletter Henge Days also has a newsletter. It covers what each release of the site adds and how to use it, and the buildings the #HengeDays community photographs in head-on light. [Read it on Substack](https://hengedays.substack.com/). The address goes to Substack, which sends the email and asks you to confirm. Henge Days does not keep it. --- Every date and time on Henge Days is computed from a building outline in OpenStreetMap and the position of the sun. Nobody has checked it on the ground. Hills, trees and other buildings can block a low sun. Treat each date as a plan to confirm before you travel. See https://hengedays.com/terms.md. Henge Days is free to use; sign in only to save days to a planner. Contact: hello@hengedays.com.