Thursday, March 24, 2022

Boston, MA: 1898-2007 760mw New Boston/L Street Generating Station

(Satellite)

Carson King posted
Unit 8 at L Street Station in South Boston. One of four General Electric curtis vertical steam turbines left in existence. It was put into service in 1914 and ran for 53 years. It is now being converted into a museum/mixed use space.
Brennen Williams: Amazing to see one being converted to a museum. Will they keep most of the equipment?
Carson King: Brennen Williams unfortunately they are only really saving the vertical turbine and some of the control panels. The boiler house and other sections are being cleared to use as mixed use space. better than demolishing the whole thing though!

The station was built with reciprocating prime movers. The first Curtis vertical steam turbine was installed in 1903 as part of a major expansion. Another expansion in 1916 introduced horizontal steam turbines. The last expansion was done in the 1960s with two 380mw units, and it is known as the New Boston Generating Station. [amazon, Gilmore G Cooke]

Michael Ireland posted
15,000-kilowatt unit inside L Street Station of the Boston Edison Company installed in 1914. Alexander Karnes has a genius plan to bring back the steam driven vacuum pump for the upcoming renovation of the building which Turbine #8 will remain untouched. The developers seem to have an appreciation for the history of this place thankfully!
Sean Ginnetty
I’ve always wished I could have visited L-St before it shut down.
My father worked for Boston Edison (and then Entergy once they bought Pilgrim)for decades and spent a lot of time there. I started my career on the other side of the city as an operator at Mystic Station in 1999. I currently work with several people who were operators at L St. So I’ve always heard stories about some of the old equipment still in place there, and the cool architecture inside.
This site has a few photos. I love the green tiling.

K.c. Lash shared

Unit 1 was deactivated in 2007. Unit 2 had already been deactivated in 2002 because of fire damage. [reuters]

BostonHerald
"South Boston power plant developers get ready for demolition, insisting they’ve learned from past issues"
[It sounds like it is going to be a "get rid of it" rather than a repurpose development. Fortunately, it is the "pink elephant" in the photo rather than the historic building to the left of it that is getting removed. The developer, Hilco, is the one that managed the redevelopment of the Crawford Power Plant in Chicago that caused a big dust cloud when they blew up the smokestack. Hilco also created a billowing dust cloud at another project in New Jersey. They don't plan to use explosives for this removal. They are gong to carefully dismantle it "using mechanical techniques."]

Since it is going to be disappearing, I saved some more views of it.
3D Satellite

3D Satellite

Dave Fillman posted
1903 Boston Edison generating station exterior, complete with the Greek god Mercury built into the façade.
Michael J. Sullivan: Was absolutely beautiful inside, with the walls being covered with green Italian marble. walked thru that building, while working there, several times.

The dates don't match up, but Dave's photo must be of this plant.
3D Satellite

The Proper People posted
New episode out now! We're exploring an 125 year old power plant in Boston with epic architecture and an unbelievable control room! https://youtu.be/V2m2pFYOLOc
Brett Wanamaker shared

Mar 3, 2024: 2 of 6 photos posted by Lucibello Heavy Equipment photography with the comment: "The Boston Edison Company L Street power plant which provided power to the City of Boston from 1898 to 2006. Large portions of the site are currently being torn down for a redevelopment project which will reuse portions of the existing structure. There are a number of machines onsite performing the work, one of which is a Hitachi EX550 telescopic high reach."
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