Piazza di Termini: Recent History
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1885:
The Giunta Comunale debated appropriating for public use the private area adjacent to the exedra and sponsoring a competition to select an architectural plan appropriate to the importance of the place. The Comune and the property owners reached agreement on the submission of Gaetano Koch, one of the premier exponents of Roman eclecticism at the end of the 19th century. This design balanced the demand for monumentality with the profit motive. Koch proposed two porticoed "palazzi," which would be used for commercial, residential, and official purposes. At the end of the year, an agreement between the Comune and the private property owners was drawn up: the Comune was responsible for the systematization of the public spaces, the pavement of the porticoes, and construction of the stairs and streetlights (figs. 17-20: Archivio Capitolino).
