We miss the boldness of the old Lehman Bros display.

You could always count on the old Lehman Bros building for a little bit of drama. It always managed to have the perfect blend of nonsensical object (fields of wheat, roiling waves) against an alarmingly bright background. I remember it was ominously red the week it blew up. And when it comes to bank building LED displays, it sure beat the pants off of the Morgan Stanley building just a few blocks down the street.

Our first search turned up this interesting factoid: the old Lehman Bros display was done (at least at one point) by a firm called Untwist. Check out a photo of the intense “LED Signage Machine Room.” Guess they fired the guy who took that over.

While the Barclays sign certainly seems … well, sober, it’s also a waste to have that many LEDs and not have some kind of coordinated, fantastic display. We bet this can’t last. Perhaps if the hawk was swooping down instead of stationary?

Let us know your favorite Lehman Bros signage moments below. Sad to say we missed this one — must have been for St. Patty’s.