Located at South Broad Street and Oregon Avenue, the plaza was originally designed by the architects Olmsted Brothers in 1914–1916 and was built as the grand entrance for the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exposition, leading visitors south along a tree lined Southern Boulevard (now South Broad Street) to the exhibition grounds that started at Packer Avenue and League Island. This neighborhood twin park mirrored on both sides of Broad Street became property of the Fairmount Park system and 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 the “Radio”.
The original design of the Plaza was a terrace styled with influences of Roman 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 pools of water facing Broad Street at the center point, which at that time was cut away from the curbline of half circles both on the east and west.
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 immigrant Italian community and respond to Anti-Italianism. A statue of Guglielmo Marconi was erected on the east Plaza though the efforts of the Marconi Memorial Association headed by Dr. Frank P. DiDio. The statue was dedicated on April 25, 1980, to commemorate the 106th anniversary of the birthday of the world famous Italian scientist and inventor.
A statue of Christopher Columbus was erected on the west plaza in 1982. This work was originally located along Belmont Avenue in Fairmount Park, having been erected on October 12, 1876. Thought to be the work of Emanuele Caroni, this is said to be first publicly-funded monument to Christopher Columbus in the United States. It was purchased for $18,000 with money raised by Italian-Americans and the Columbus Monument Association, through the efforts of Alonzo Viti of Philadelphia and his brothers. The statue's initial installation began an annual tradition for the colony of mostly Italian Americans in South Philadelphia to march each year on Columbus Day to the statue in Fairmount Park. The 6-mile (9.7 km) journey was found to be too exhausting and in 1920 the celebration changed locations.
PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future