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Marconi Plaza
Marconi Plaza is an urban park square located in South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The plaza was named to recognize the 20th-century cultural identity in Philadelphia of the surrounding Italian American enclave neighborhood and became the designation location of the annual Columbus Day Parade.
Marconi Plaza has two main halves, east and west, which are divided in the middle by Broad Street. It is located at the most southern end of the city and within the northern border of the Sports Complex Special Services District and the southern border of Lower Moyamensing. The park plaza is accessible via the Oregon Avenue station of the Broad Street subway.
Boundaries of the Marconi Plaza neighborhood:
The urban park plaza itself, from which the neighborhood derives its name (Marconi East and "Marco" Marconi West), is a 19-acre (77,000 m2) rectangular park. The Roman-styled plaza is divided in the center by Broad Street and is bordered by 13th Street, 15th Street, Bigler Street, and Oregon Avenue.
The plaza design is credited to the strong influence of renowned architect Paul Philippe Cret in 1904 as part of his participation in the Art Jury reviewing the preliminary plans presented by landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers, who were then charged with a modified design to complete the work. . The Plaza later served as the grand pre-entrance for the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition, leading visitors south along a tree lined Southern Boulevard Parkway (landscaped segment of South Broad Street) to the exhibition grounds that started at Packer Avenue and continued to League Island Park. This neighborhood twin park is mirrored on both sides of Broad Street and became property of the Fairmount Park system. It held the common name of Oregon Plaza until October 18, 1937 when it was officially named Marconi Plaza in honor of the Nobel Prize Laureate Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio.
The F. Amadee Bregy School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The original design of the Plaza was a two level terrace with pathways, marble trims, urns, influenced by landscaped architecture modeling after Roman gardens and English gardens. The east and west plaza reflected the same winding pathways, leading to a raised stepped terrace surrounded by stone railings and entrance sculptures of large urns, with two small "reflecting" pools of water facing Broad Street at the center point, which at that time was cut away from the curbline, forming half circles open to traffic on both the east and west. This accent was used in 1926 to position a large Liberty Bell at the center of the street, permitting traffic to circle around.
Over the years, many of the fine details have been erased, including the half circled indented curbline on either side of Broad Street at the center. This location also had, on both sides of the plaza, two reflecting pools of water. The pools were filled in to provide the foundation for the two statues that were later erected to support the cultural history of the immigrant Italian community and respond to Anti-Italianism.
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Marconi Plaza
Marconi Plaza is an urban park square located in South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The plaza was named to recognize the 20th-century cultural identity in Philadelphia of the surrounding Italian American enclave neighborhood and became the designation location of the annual Columbus Day Parade.
Marconi Plaza has two main halves, east and west, which are divided in the middle by Broad Street. It is located at the most southern end of the city and within the northern border of the Sports Complex Special Services District and the southern border of Lower Moyamensing. The park plaza is accessible via the Oregon Avenue station of the Broad Street subway.
Boundaries of the Marconi Plaza neighborhood:
The urban park plaza itself, from which the neighborhood derives its name (Marconi East and "Marco" Marconi West), is a 19-acre (77,000 m2) rectangular park. The Roman-styled plaza is divided in the center by Broad Street and is bordered by 13th Street, 15th Street, Bigler Street, and Oregon Avenue.
The plaza design is credited to the strong influence of renowned architect Paul Philippe Cret in 1904 as part of his participation in the Art Jury reviewing the preliminary plans presented by landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers, who were then charged with a modified design to complete the work. . The Plaza later served as the grand pre-entrance for the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition, leading visitors south along a tree lined Southern Boulevard Parkway (landscaped segment of South Broad Street) to the exhibition grounds that started at Packer Avenue and continued to League Island Park. This neighborhood twin park is mirrored on both sides of Broad Street and became property of the Fairmount Park system. It held the common name of Oregon Plaza until October 18, 1937 when it was officially named Marconi Plaza in honor of the Nobel Prize Laureate Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio.
The F. Amadee Bregy School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The original design of the Plaza was a two level terrace with pathways, marble trims, urns, influenced by landscaped architecture modeling after Roman gardens and English gardens. The east and west plaza reflected the same winding pathways, leading to a raised stepped terrace surrounded by stone railings and entrance sculptures of large urns, with two small "reflecting" pools of water facing Broad Street at the center point, which at that time was cut away from the curbline, forming half circles open to traffic on both the east and west. This accent was used in 1926 to position a large Liberty Bell at the center of the street, permitting traffic to circle around.
Over the years, many of the fine details have been erased, including the half circled indented curbline on either side of Broad Street at the center. This location also had, on both sides of the plaza, two reflecting pools of water. The pools were filled in to provide the foundation for the two statues that were later erected to support the cultural history of the immigrant Italian community and respond to Anti-Italianism.