“Silver bells, silver
bells
It’s
Christmas time in the city ….”
"Silver Bells"
~ composed by Jay
Livingston & Ray Evans
1950
The spirit of Christmas illuminates on the iconic PPL building this
December in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The PPL Building, formerly the Pennsylvania Power and Light
Building,
is a 24-story, art deco/art moderne skyscraper at Ninth and
Hamilton Streets.
It is the tallest building in Allentown and the second tallest
in the Lehigh Valley, and serves as the headquarters for the electric utility,
PPL.
The building is often uniquely illuminated at night,
especially during
the Christmas season. During the 1960s, PPL supported the
local United Fund community drive program by using the building’s brightly lit
windows at night
To spell out the abbreviation “U.F.” to remind area
residents to contribute to the fund drive.
The PPL building was built from 1926-1928. The building was
designed by architect and skyscraper pioneer Harvey Wiley Corbett, who would
later have a hand in designing New York’s Rockefeller Center, and was
supervised by his assistant, Wallace Harrison, who would later design Lincoln
Center, La Guardia Airport, and the United Nations Headquarters Building. The
building has exterior features bas reliefs by Alexander Archipenko. In 1930,
the PPL building was named “the best example of a modern office building” by
Encyclopedia Britannica, and also featured the world’s fastest elevator.
