The twisted orange steel girders are piled like bundles of firewood for a bonfire. The steel and glass tower rising from between them seems to be stoically awaiting its fiery fate. “Kindling” (2019; archival print; 20 by 30 inches) and other digital photographs by Glenn Koehler will grace the walls of Fox Optical & Gallery at 25 E. Third Street through June 29. Koehler’s exhibit, “A Final Look: Inside the Last Days of Martin Tower,” features images captured inside and out of the soon to be demolished former headquarters for Bethlehem Steel.

Most of the exterior shots were taken in March 2019 by Koehler with a Canon 5D Mark III DSLR camera. Included is “Monolith” (2019; archival print; 13 by 19 inches) which provides a dramatic upward-looking view of the tower reaching for the sky.

The haunting interior images were taken in May 2014 with a Canon 60D DSLR camera, when Koehler took part in a public tour of the 21-story vacant office building. Among these are “Desolate” (2014; archival print; 11 by 14 inches) which depicts the emptiness of a glass-walled hallway lined with small sun-baked trees still clinging to their brittle yellow leaves.

Other photographs were taken in 2017, including “Skyline” (2017; archival print; 10 by 40 inches) with a panoramic composite of eight shots taken at sunset with an 8mm lens from the Lehigh University overlook, then digitally “stitched together.”

Fox Optical employee Mike Belletti, who assisted with arranging the exhibit, mentioned that he had watered those trees and other office plants in the corporate offices while a teenaged employee of Sawyer & Johnson Florist. His employer was under contract for “internal landscaping,” Belletti said.

Named for Bethlehem Steel chairman Edmund F. Martin, the cross-like footprint for the towering world headquarters at 1170 Eighth Ave. provided offices with corner views for Steel executives.

According to Koehler, groundbreaking was held in August 1969 for the building, with occupation of the completed structure beginning in 1972. The tallest building in the Lehigh Valley has been vacant since 2007.

As the marketing and outreach coordinator for the National Museum of Industrial History, Koehler was involved in moving and preserving two mosaics from the former Bethlehem Steel printery before it was torn down. He also documented and assisted with preserving mahogany doors, doorknobs sporting the company logo, blueprints, and what he called “1970s tech” from Martin Tower.

“I have always been fascinated with abandoned buildings,” Koehler said.

Although listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Martin Tower was leveled Sunday shortly after daybreak.

Gallery hours: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Information: foxoptical.com; 610-332-2400.