Power Shortage in Hunters Point
This big building with its tall arched windows and massive granite base at 2nd Street and 51st Avenue was built by McKim, Mead and White beginning in 1903 and was completed in 1909, the year before the firm finished Manhattan’s classic Pennsylvania Station. The powerhouse was built when the Long Island Rail Road deemed it…

This big building with its tall arched windows and massive granite base at 2nd Street and 51st Avenue was built by McKim, Mead and White beginning in 1903 and was completed in 1909, the year before the firm finished Manhattan’s classic Pennsylvania Station.
The powerhouse was built when the Long Island Rail Road deemed it necessary to electrify most of the western portion of the railroad in Queens and Nassau Counties in preparation for the opening of the East River tunnels leading to the new station. Over 9,500 piles were driven in the generating plant’s construction; when finished the plant supplied 11,000-volt 25-cycle, three-phase alternating current to substations. 625 volts of direct current are carried on the LIRR’s third rails.
While the destruction of Penn Station in the 1960s is correctly described as one of NYC’s greatest architectural losses, this unheralded masterpiece still stands. Unfortunately, its four ebony smokestacks, featured in artwork by Georgia O’Keeffe in the 1930s, were torn down in 2005. They were deemed unsafe when the building was being prepared for residential use.
What's Your Take? Leave a Comment