Steampunk wonderland

I had the great honor last weekend to visit a building that I have had targeted for a very, very long time. It was built in 1919 to serve the growing city in a grand, new age of electricity. Once one of the leading power plants of its time, it now has been sitting for 22 years, forgotten and a danger to anyone who enters.

Signs posted inside warn that falling debris is a huge risk, and not without good reason. The concrete that once spanned the majestic steel arches is slowly coming back to the earth, but at high velocity. The holes, however, are excellent for practicing sunstar patterns when the weather is right. Inside, the main turbine hall is a breathtaking architectural exercise in light and space, the size of the room undermining the size of the structures that lay nested in the middle. Even the turbines themselves look like something out of a Victorian fantasy: industrial sea creatures, all of rivets and intricate tubing and decorative bands of rusted metal. The catwalk around the perimeter of the hall even had wood railings. The service car for the crane sprouted wiring not unlike mechanistic vasculature, heralded by a cheerful silver horn. Nothing was without industrial embellishment. It was my fantasy made into a reality.


High above the floor, a bay window from the control room boasted a huge rusted clock, paused at 2:27. Gazing up at the orange face you can almost imagine the foreman standing behind the glass, overseeing the sweating toils of his minions below. My heart ached to see ten digits on the face rather than twelve.

In the lower level is the turbine that was used as the prison for Bruce Willis in 12 Monkeys. Many people have since climbed into the hole (still lined with copper sheeting and neon lights), but it is easy to see the allure of this unique setting from a filmmaker's perspective.

Six hours were all that I spent in this wonderful place, but I could put in no more that day. There are many wings of this massive building that I was not even able to see, which is disappointing but a reality of life. My photos do not do the building justice, but I hope to be able to return again and get to know the place a bit better.

Here's my brief take on it. More to come from a most prolific weekend in the East.