BOSTON – Boston Garden is officially in the hands of the wreckers.

Two years after the old arena was closed to the public, its maintenance crew turned off the lights and locked up one last time before the yearlong demolition begins.

“That’s it,” said Rudolph “Spider” Edwards, as he snapped a padlock on the doors leading to the floor where he had watched Bill Russell and Bobby Orr play.

Edwards spent 33 years on the Garden crew before moving to the adjacent FleetCenter, along with the Bruins and Celtics on Sept. 29, 1995.

Longtime electrician Bobby Hall clicked off the main lights, bank by bank, until only a pale glow shone over the peeling yellow paint, stacks of chairs and empty trash cans.

Cables that had held up the scoreboard hung limply in the center of the arena. The FleetCenter management is looking to give charities what’s left.

By day’s end, workers were to begin sealing off the building for removal of asbestos and other regulated materials.

The building itself is scheduled to be ripped apart section by section beginning in January. Nine months later, it should be reduced to a vacant lot.

A high-rise hotel, residential, office and retail complex is expected to rise in its place, while a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority tunnel to North Station runs underneath.

The Garden was dedicated Nov. 14, 1928. President Coolidge switched on the lights from the White House. A boxing match opened the arena a few days later.

The Bruins and Celtics were the building’s main tenants, winning enough championships over the years to give the Garden mythical status. Elvis Presley played there. So did the Beatles, and almost every other top pop act of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Circuses and ice shows were regular visitors.

“You don’t see arenas like this any more. They’re gone, the way of the past,” Hall said.