New York, NY: 1902 Con Edison 74th Street Station

(Satellite)

Rich Schwarzenberg posted two photos with the comment: "The same picture taken 115 years apart. Con Edison 74th St Station NYC."

[Rich also posted some photos of some remaining 25-cycle relays and breakers in the comments.

The plant still pumps out 2.9mlbs (at full load) for the city's underground steam system.]

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[Judging from some comments, the plant was built using reciprocating steam engines. So these vertical steam turbines would have been an upgrade. Obviously, the unit in the foreground is even newer.]

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imjustwalkin
"When this generating station began operating in 1902, it powered all four of Manhattan's newly electrified elevated rail lines. It's now owned by Con Edison and is used to produce steam for the world's largest steam system."

It still has its smoke stack and some barge unloading equipment. I checked a 1947 topo map, and I could not find any rail service along the east side of Manhattan Island. The power plant converted from #6 fuel oil to natural gas around 2013. The new boilers can also burn fuel oil as a backup. The conversion to gas cost $100m, but it should save $270m in five years. [nydailnews] I could not find when it converted from coal to fuel oil. The Port Reading Coal Dock is an example of where the loaded coal barges may have come from.

3D Satellite

Originally, it had four smokestacks in a rectangle. That seems to be common back then. Note that Battersea had a similar configuration.

MCNY and EphemeralNewYork
Photographer unknown. 74th St. Power Station Looking North. June 17, 1902. Museum of the City of New York Photography Collection. F2012.53.308A

MCNY
"According to the IEEE Global History website regarding the history of railway power stations of New York City: 'Originally, the power house was equipped with eight huge Allis-Corliss reciprocating steam engines, each rated at 10,000 horsepower maximum. Each engine drove directly a Westinghouse three-phase, 11,000 volt, 25-cycle alternator rated for 7500 kilowatts.' At the time these eight Westinghouse alternators were the largest ever built!"
[There are a lot of fantastic construction photos on this MCNY site. This one proves that it was originally built with reciprocating steam engines.]

This photo is more proof that this powerhouse was built with reciprocating steam.

NYtimes
The first subway was built between 1900-04. That included a powerhouse on the Hudson River at 59th Street. While that was being built, "the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company, which operated the Els, began constructing a 200-by-500-foot generating station right on the East River, between 74th and 75th Streets."

UntappedCities
"The 200-by- 500 foot powerhouse–built using 6,000 tons of steel–is a behemoth of a structure....It originally housed 10,000 horsepower rated Allis-Corliss reciprocating steam engines....The power station, designed by the engineer George H. Pegram, was built under commission by the operators of the city’s Els line, the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company. The importance of Pelgram’s contributions to New York transit history are forever enshrined when, following his death in 1937, all trains in the city were stopped for two minutes. The station is located on the East River and was built to power the the second, third, sixth, and ninth elevated lines."

EphemeralNewYork
"I’ve passed this powerhouse several times recently, and though I didn’t know its backstory, it always looked familiar to me. Turns out the red-brick building is in this 1934 painting of the East River, a favorite of mine. Painter Jara Henry Valenta gives us a still and solitary view of the coal boats waiting at the water’s edge, with no FDR drive in the way."

Apr 2021: $800m will be spent on new transmission lines because of the retirement of generating plants in NYC. "The plants being retired include Con Edison's 17.1-megawatt (MW) 59th Street GT1 and 74th Street gas turbine units 1 and 2 (37 MW) in Manhattan, Con Edison’s Hudson Ave unit 5 (16.3 MW) in Brooklyn, the Helix Ravenswood units 1, 10 and 11 (68.6 MW) in Queens, NRG Energy Inc's (NRG.N) Astoria gas turbines (240 MW) in Queens and NRG's Arthur Kill GT1 unit (20 MW) in Staten Island." [reuters]

For future reference: (Update: The future has arrived. Notes on the ConEd 59th Street Station have been written.)

This photo was moved to 1904 ConEd 59th Street/IRT Powerhouse

Michael Bara posted two images with the comment: "The 74th Street Power Station NYC 1901."

Brian Kroeker shared with the comment: "Thank you for this, Michael Bara."

Paul Strubeck: These were removed and replaced with turbines pretty early on.

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