AA-2026-D18A46
On the image
Every December, whoever was in charge of the Arizona State Capitol's holiday lighting took that responsibility extremely seriously. Strings of incandescent bulbs trace every cornice, column, and roofline of the Wesley Bolin Plaza building until the architecture exists only as a constellation of warm amber points against the desert night — the actual building having become secondary to the demonstration that electricity was available and the will to use it was strong.
This was the era before LED retrofit projects made municipal Christmas displays both cheaper and slightly less charming, when a city's commitment to the season was still measured in wattage and electric bills rather than lumens-per-dollar efficiency reports. The palms flanking the entrance are wrapped to the fronds, which in a climate that has never experienced a frost is the closest Arizona gets to a winter tradition.
Somewhere in a city planning office, a facilities manager filed the work order for this and felt the quiet pride of a person who has done something visible. The building spent eleven months being the seat of state government and one month being a very large Christmas ornament, and nobody involved seemed to think this required any further justification.
Visually related — by likeness
Arizona State Capitol Christmas Lights, Phoenix, 2002. 2002. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-D18A46. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/arizona-state-capitol-christmas-lights-phoenix-2002.
@misc{aaAA2026D18A46,
title = {Arizona State Capitol Christmas Lights, Phoenix, 2002},
year = {2002},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-D18A46},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/arizona-state-capitol-christmas-lights-phoenix-2002}
}TY - ART TI - Arizona State Capitol Christmas Lights, Phoenix, 2002 PY - 2002 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-D18A46 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/arizona-state-capitol-christmas-lights-phoenix-2002 ER -
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