Last Wednesday's evening lighting project along South Broad Street was, in a sense, the second phase of a more regular initiative to light the Avenue of the Arts, with the first being the City Hall Christmas wonderland two years ago. Wednesday's event, produced by Center City District, bathed the building façades of the Ritz-Carlton (the former Girard Bank lobby portion with the dome, not the hotel tower), the Merriam Theater and University of the Arts' Anderson Hall and Hamilton Hall, the 1826 Greek Revival building by William Strickland. These four buildings featured the artwork of UArts students projected from machines mounted across the street, in plain boxes, platform boxes, and one box installed atop the Wilma parking garage.

The star of the evening, though, was the Terra Building at Broad & Walnut. The 17 story building by Horace Trumbauer was lit up by mounted LED lights programmed by Philly's own The Lighting Practice, splashed color onto an otherwise subtle building and accentuated the renovation work MGA Partners did on the lower floors in 2000.

The Terra Building's scheme is meant to be permanent and stands to serve as a sign of things to come down the Avenue of the Arts. LEDs are scheduled for 2008 to adorn a number of other buildings on South Broad between City Hall and South Street including the big (PNB Building, Wachovia Building, Land Title and Land Title Annex), the stately (Bellevue, Union League), and the otherwise unnoticed (Bellevue's parking garage, Starbucks at Pine).

The show was unveiled to the sounds of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, my one minor nitpick in an otherwise fun and festive evening full of freaks and weirdos. I mean, it's a nice piece, but it's just that it's the Stairway to Heaven of classical music. But that's an awful small complaint.

Overall, it was a fun show and even if you think bright colors are gaudy (in which case you probably don't like Cira Centre after dark), you have to admit that they spruce up an already pretty lively pedestrian experience. There are 25 images in this photo set, all on one easy-to-use popup page. (It totals about 5M, so give it a second to load.)

GO TO PHOTOS