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EXCLUSIVE: Philadelphia City Hall's Illuminated Clock Tower Gets Modern Makeover

By Natasha Brown

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Its an iconic part of Philadelphia's skyline.

City Hall's illuminated clock tower is getting a modern makeover.

Seventeen floors above Broad Street inside City Hall, CBS 3 Eyewitness News got a rare and exclusive look behind the clock tower that illuminates the city's skyline.

The scaffolding may cloud the view from here, but the work to replace the clock's lighting will provide a much clearer perspective.

"Each fixture has two lamps in it. We've gone through and cleaned every single fixture off which is one of the reasons why the clock in general has gotten a little bit brighter and then retrofitted it with the LED replacements," said Adam Agalloco, Energy Manager of the City of Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability.

The historic four clock faces are getting a modern day makeover with more energy efficient lights. Gone are the 1930's era lamps that needed to be replaced quite often. They will be replaced with LED lights that are expected to last for years.

"If you can imagine if there's one or two lamps that are out way, way high up, you're still climbing up there, you're still spending all that time just to change those two," Agalloco said.

The energy efficient overhaul is part of the city's larger Guaranteed Energy Savings project meant to lower the city's energy consumption by 30 percent.

"This portion of the project alone will save about $10,000 annually in energy," Agalloco said.

The lighting upgrade to the clock tower is expected to be completed by next week, giving the clock a much brighter, more energy efficient glow.

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