Iconic PNB Letters Removed From Center City High Rise
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia skyline got a makeover Sunday morning, three months in the making. The iconic PNB letters were removed from the top of the One South Broad Street high-rise in Center City.
Crews from the Philadelphia Sign Company finished a job they couldn't complete back in August. One by one, at a rapid pace, a helicopter hooked onto and took away the 16 foot high, 3,000 pound letters which had been part of the skyline for 62 years.
"It was very difficult because everything was so old," said the company's vice president, John Foley. "So it was dealing with a lot of fragile letters up there and the steel."
Crews were forced to put their initial efforts in August on hold after officials determined the operation was too risky, but Foley said they put a lot of work into round two.
"We spent the past two weeks securing everything," he said. "Weather conditions were perfect. Not much wind, didn't hold us up. Just a lot of preparation."
The letters PNB are now all gone and Chuck from Havertown, Pennsylvania captured the moment on his iPad.
"It could be a little warmer," he said. "My hands are a little blue, but it's nice. The weather is decent, it's not raining and it's fantastic to watch. It's the last time we'll ever see these letters."
They were up since Philadelphia National Bank took ownership of One South Broad in 1952. The bank became Corestates, now Wells Fargo which had been maintaining the letters.
Officials say the letters deteriorated and had to be taken down out of public safety concerns.
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