JFK Plaza (Love Park)

John F. Kennedy Plaza/LOVE Park was the brainchild of famed Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon and was designed by architect Vincent Kling. The park is located across from City Hall and serves as the gateway to Fairmount Park's Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Parkway Museums District. Built in 1965, the plaza includes curved granite steps and a majestic fountain added in 1969. The nickname LOVE Park comes from the LOVE sculpture that overlooks the plaza. The world famous LOVE sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza as part of the United States' Bicentennial Celebration in 1976 . It was removed in 1978, but the sculpture was missed and the Chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., bought the sculpture and permanently placed it in the plaza as a gift to Philadelphia. Visit the Fairmount Park Welcome Center, featuring information about the Fairmount Park system and the LOVE Gift shop.