BAD TO WORSE FOR THE PNB BUILDING soon to be known as the WACHOVIA BUILDING, could they at least put a damn ATM machine in the building!
Remember back in November when I posted about the “Zoning Signs” going up on the PNB building and mentioning that the new wording would be “Wachovia” on two sides of the tower top, and the Wachovia logo on the other two sides, well I was wrong or they changed their minds. (See http://phillyskyline.com/archive_0710.htm on the issue with much better graphics that I could ever do)
Well rumor has it that things have changed drastically since that entry, and it has gone from bad to worse.
They are going to wrap the bell tower part of the building like a SEPTA bus. 
Now instead of replacing the PNB letters with “Wachovia” and it’s logo on all four sides, the tower structure will be “wrapped” in the “Wachovia” logo with a SKRIM. Folks you will no longer be able to see the Founder’s Bell, which is the world’s largest ringing bell. You will still be able to hear the bell, as the material is pourous. I thought how can this be, isn’t the building designated historic. I found out that according to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places: (2000) only the Founders Memorial Bell is designated as Historic, not the building. (This Photo: tsmyther )
Since they aren’t touching the bell maybe that’s why they think it’s ok to just wrap the bell tower in an advertisement. What are they thinking? Now the Wachovia sign will be placed below the tower on a ledge. At night only the Wachovia sign will be lit. 
The PNB lettering will be removed at a huge cost, in the Spring. That’s the reason for the two year delay since the first “Zoning Notice” was put up in 2005; without getting into specifics, it had to be determined who owned the sign and who was going to foot the enormous bill to remove it. There was a verdict, but I don’t know if the info is priviledge or not so I am not going to divulge that information. 
And to make matters even worse I hear they are just trashing the letters, I guess someone needs to get the scrap mental funds, but couldn’t they just offer the 26 ft high, 13 foot wide letters to anyone? How about a “P” can’t anyone use a “P”?
The PNB lettering will be removed at a huge cost, in the Spring. That’s the reason for the two year delay since the first “Zoning Notice” was put up in 2005; without getting into specifics, it had to be determined who owned the sign and who was going to foot the enormous bill to remove it. There was a verdict, but I don’t know if the info is priviledge or not so I am not going to divulge that information. And to make matters even worse I hear they are just trashing the letters, I guess someone needs to get the scrap mental funds, but couldn’t they just offer the 26 ft high, 13 foot wide letters to anyone? How about a “P” can’t anyone use a “P”?
This is my last entry for the week as I will be in NYC photographing celebrities at Fashion Week. http://www.confessionsofapaparazzi.com/ follow along.
**Updated there was a monthly meeting regarding city planning, and this subject was brought up. Seems the City Planners are aware of the plans and are ok with it. They stated the bell won\’t be obstructed, but come on, can we see inside of a bus that has the SKRIM on it? NO, we can only see out of it I would have responded. And then went on to further state, who can see the bell from the street anyway? So who\’s wool are they pulling over one\’s eyes, or SKRIM for that matter.
WEAK SAUCE- Wachovia should take their lame logo back to North Carolina or some other locale where corporate logos are plastered all over the skyline. NOT IN THIS CITY! Show Philly and the ghosts of PNB some respect and leave the building alone and looking good as in the condition that its builders/designers intended. That modern logo is going to look stupid and ugly on top of such an old, classy building.
I don\’t mind if they took it down. Please stop the bell ringing everyday from 9AM to 9PM 365 days a year.
I\’m sad Wachovia is having financial problems, but I will leave my money there. Guess they won\’t be doing the skrim, that would be a waste of money now, especially after laying off 6000 people.
My dad used to work for the Building Management team at 1 South Broad (aka PNB building) and I used to go up to the tower at noon as a kid to hear the bell ring. I remember the view from up there and its a damn shame to hear that it\’ll soon be wrapped and obscured.