Towns and Nature: Philadelphia, PA: 1925-1984 (460+700)mw Excelon/PECO Richmond Generating Station

PECO = Philadelphia Electric Company

I thought this building was a monument to the hazards of asbestos. But Workshop of the World reports "the asbestos removal, one of the largest asbestos abatements ever, has long been complete." So it is a real shame that they let the roof of this elegant building go bad. "Turbine Hall was one of the largest open rooms ever designed, modelled after the ancient Roman baths." What the weather is not destroying, the illegal scrappers are removing.

Street View, Jun 2024

HAER PA-574-19

19. TURBINE HALL, INTERIOR, LOOKING SOUTHWEST - Philadelphia Electric Company, Richmond Power Station, Southeast end of Lewis Street along Delaware River, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

Dan Genuario posted
Richmond Station

Jan 2024:

Justin Curtis posted

Finally got the shot i wanted for years. Richmond Power Station in Philadelphia. Late afternoon sunset painting the freshly snowed on turbines with a warm glow..

Canon EOS R6 with a Laowa 15mm shift lens.

Justin Curtis shared

(OC)

ig @ihatejustincurtis

Ron Franko shared

Justin Curtis posted

Richmond Power Station, located on the banks of the Delaware River. In the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. It was really nice to revisit this plant after a fresh snowfall.

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh posted
Richmond Power Station, Philadelphia, PA

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh posted
Big Ben
Richmond Power Station, Philadelphia, PA

Bobby Weinhardt posted

1935 unit during a snow storm

“In 1935, a third unit rated at 165 MW (by Westinghouse) was installed; it was powered by two pulverized coal-fired boilers that gave it an effective rating of 135 MW. After World War II, it was overhauled and two new stoker-type boilers were added; this extra bit of power pushed the generating capability of the unit up to full capacity.” https://www.workshopoftheworld.com/richmo.../generating.html

Simon Gauthier: Very powerful machine for 1935. It was probably one of the most powerful machine for that time in the world.

Bobby Weinhardt: Simon Gauthier it was the largest one in the world when it was installed

Ammonia Lovers posted six photos with the comment:

the Turbine Hall of Philadelphia's Richmond Power Station during a snowstorm feels like stepping into a frozen concrete and rusted steel cathedral.
Sitting along the Delaware River, the Richmond Station was constructed between 1923 and 1925 for the Philadelphia Electric Company, with architect John Windrim and engineer William Eglin behind the design and technical brainpower. Windrim didn't design it like your typical utility building, he treated this structure like it was a monument to electricity.
At its peak, Richmond Power Station was a giant. Industry publications even dubbed it "The Most Handsome Station in America." The Turbine Hall soared to about 125 feet, built to house enormous turbogenerators and the industrial choreography that powered Philadelphia's factories, streetcars, homes, and everything that made Philadelphia the "city of brotherly love."
Then the world changed. Cleaner energy, shifting industry, and new power infrastructure pushed places like this into obsolescence. Richmond Station was taken offline in the mid-1980s, and the building began its long slide from powerhouse to rusting relic.
Even after Richmond Power Station shut down its turbines, it kept "working" in a strange way. Its scale and atmosphere made it a go-to film location, standing in for everything from the dystopian future of "12 Monkeys" to alien invasions in "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen."
That's what hit me in the snow...this hall was designed for motion. Belts turning, steam hissing, operators watching gauges. But today it's defined by stillness. A peaceful, post-apocalyptic calm...

Ed Kriner: I worked at this plant and these vintage machines were work horses!

In the switch yards there were two massive M-G sets to convert 60hz to 25hz for the electric rail lines!

Sad to see this infrastructure in decline. This was a great station to work at!

HAER PA-574-37

37. TURBINE HALL, CONTROL ROOM, LOOKING NORTHEAST

This summarizes the following notes. The 1935 unit was made by Westinghouse, and the 1951 unit was made by GE. Both units were the "world's largest single-shaft turbine unit" when they were installed. The units before the 1960s were steam driven. The peaking power units installed in the 1960s were basically jet engines, and they probably made good use of the oil tanks installed in 1946 because of coal strikes. The "Initial" and "Upgraded" capacities are in megawatts.

Year	Initial	Upgraded
1925	2*50	2*60
1935	135	165
1951	185
1960s, Westinghouse	8*25
1960s, Worthington	8*40
1960s, GE	3*60

So the peak steam capacity was 460mw and the peak jet fuel capacity was 700mw.

Ben Kees
A rare glimpse into the Richmond Station turbine hall before it was abandoned. This photo was found by a former worker buried in his closet while we were interviewing him for our documentary Electric Rust. If you love places like these check it out: https://bit.ly/RustKickstart

Nomination, p41

PECO was formed in 1902 to consolidate and standardize service for the customers of 26 neighborhood utilities. In 1902, construction began on Schuylkill A-1 at 81mw. During 1913-15 they added Schuylkill A-2 and that increased the sites capacity to 130mw. Then they bought more land in 1916 and built the 120mw Chester Waterside Station between 1918-19. Demand was increasing so rapidly that they also started building the Delaware Station in 1917. Because of a steel shortage due to WWI, it was redesigned to use reinforced concrete and it was fully operational by 1923 with 180mw provided by six turbogenerators. "In 1925, the time of its [Richmond's] completion, with an initial installation of two 50mw generators, it was both the largest and most efficient power plant in the world." Later, the two units were upgraded to 60mw. It was designed so that its size could be tripled, but that did not happen because their Conowingo Hydroelectric Plant opened in 1928 and then Great Depression happened. [Nomination, p40-45]

The original plan for Richmond.

Nomination, p47

In 1932, a 165mw Westinghouse unit was installed in the location originally intended for the third 50-60mw unit to support the electrification of the Pennsylvania Railroad. That unit was the largest single-shaft unit ever made. "The new unit measured 96 feet long, 28 feet wide, 26 feet high and weighed more than 1000 tons." A 182mw GE unit was added in 1949 and increased the station's rating to 467mw. It overtook the Westinghouse unit as the world's largest single-shaft turbine unit and Richmond became the largest steam plant in the PECO system. [Nomination, p48-49,51]

Nomination, p49

The 1925 units used 400 psi instead of the customary 100-125 psi. The fourth unit added in 1951 used 1200 psi, and it was cooled with hydrogen instead of air. "In the late 1960s, power demand from the burgeoning northeast necessitated the installation of a series of nineteen combustion jet-type turbo generator units at Richmond. Eight of these units were built by Westinghouse and rated at 25 MW each. Eight were built by Worthington and consisted of two Pratt & Whitney jet engines (similar in design to a 707 jet engine). These engines were positioned back-to-back so that their exhausts were directed into turbine casings that were attached to generators capable of producing 40 MW each. The final three units were heavy duty combustion turbines by General Electric and rated at 60 MW each." [WorkshopOfTheWorld]

Per a comment on the video, they obtained permission to enter the building.

safe_image for Exploring an Abandoned Historic 1920s Power Plant - Huge Turbine Hall
Jason Beatty: Was there a company name on the turbines?
Bobby Weinhardt: Jason Beatty Westinghouse
At timestamp 1:21 there is a gasometer in left background and the video says: "Housed the world's largest Westinghouse turbo-generator in 1935 when it was added."
It was used as a movie set for 12 Monkeys and Transformers 2.
[I skipped the walkthrough.]

Brandon Parsons posted
The turbine hall of the Richmond Generating Station; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Robert Bjordal: The unit in the foreground appears to be the newest unit. That is the largest crossover I've ever seen! Imagine unbolting that.
Brett Wanamaker shared

Bobby Weinhardt posted 12 photos with the comment:

One of the most architecturally beautiful power plants I’ve ever photographed. Built in the 1920s (Philly)
https://instagram.com/derelict_to_decay
https://youtu.be/vA-Mc6uUt7I

Ed Clancey: Why does this “Power Plant” have a psychotherapy ward ?

Bobby Weinhardt: Ed Clancey movie set, 12 monkeys

Shawn Falk shared

John Kramer: I just noticed the Westinghouse unit is not present in the background of this photo, meaning this photo was taken shortly after the hall was completed in 1927.

Bobby commented on his post

Joseph G. Boyce commented on Bobby's post
I took this while working in an even older station.

Facebook would not give me a link to this post :-( Bobby Weinhardt posted 8 photos and 3 short videos on Jan 30, 2022 in the group Exploring Abandoned (Pennsylvania) with the comment: "I couldn’t think of a better way to shoot a snow storm. 6am in a well known power plant. https://instagram.com/derelict_to_decay"

Harry Alonzo Longabaugh posted three photos with the comment: "Turbine hall of Richmond Power Station. Featuring the mighty Big Ben"

This source rates the generating station as 131.6mw in the winter, but only 98mw in the summer. That is the first time I have seen that distinction.

This photo shows how coal barges used to be unloaded. The PECO plants were converted to oil in 1946 because of a coal strike. But oil was used only in emergencies. The use of coal continued to grow. [Nomination, p50-51]

Preservation Study, cropped
"The station, now owned by Exelon Corporation, was ultimately retired in 1985, during a period when Philadelphia’s population, industry, and employment were at all-time lows."

Truth in Destruction posted ten photos with the comment:

Select views of Philadelphia’s temple of electricity: Delaware Generating Station. Completed in 1923, this massive structure was responsible for powering almost half of the city before fully decommissioning and closing in 2008. It has since been renovated into The Battery; a mixed-use campus comprised of apartments and a hotel.
Photographed from 2008-2018.

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