10 Cool Instagram Shots of PNB Letters Coming Down
The letters on the flatbed truck, destined for the scrapyard. Photo: Bradley Maule.
One South Broad Street, a Beaux Arts building commissioned by the Wanamaker family that opened in 1932, underwent a quarter of a transformation this weekend when three of its iconic, 16-foot-high PNB letters — installed more than a half-century ago — were removed on Sunday.
The change was due to new ownership of the John T. Windrim-designed building: Aion Partners bought the building for $68 million in April, but as Hidden City reports, the removal of the letters has been a long time coming: “Removal of the letters was first approved by the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2005, when Wachovia wanted to replace the PNB with branding of its own. (The Founder’s Bell and its belfry are on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, while the building itself is not.)”
Below, some Instagrammer shots (including my own) of the letter removal, which will continue next week, perhaps, though the precise date hasn’t been nailed down. The letters, by the way, are headed to the scrapyard. Shame Vanna White isn’t in town.
