Social History Thru Architecture: Dating a Furnace
In addition to blogging, Callalillie is currently writing a paper for graduate (?) school that “asserts that a social history of the school can be read through its architectural changes between 1860, when the original structure was erected, and the present day”. As part of her research, she got to explore the basement–the oldest part…
In addition to blogging, Callalillie is currently writing a paper for graduate (?) school that “asserts that a social history of the school can be read through its architectural changes between 1860, when the original structure was erected, and the present day”. As part of her research, she got to explore the basement–the oldest part of the building–last week and stumbled across the largest furnace she has ever seen. She estimates that it dates to between 1891 and 1923. Can anyone help her narrow it down?
Timeline [Callalillie]
No idea on the date, but it’s not the only school with cool old stuff. The Power Plant at Pratt was first installed in 1887, the plant is the oldest steam-generating facility in the Northeast and was pointed out by Brownstoner in 2005:
http://brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2005/10/inside_the_prat.html
Go around the entire furnace with a flashlight looking for a patent date in the metal. My brownstone has a cast iron pancake boiler (assembled in stacking contoured rings that fit down the chute in front of the house)and was wrapped in asbestos when I bought the place. When the asbestos was remediated (and replaced with modern insulation),the entire plant was exposed, including a raised patent date of 1919 in the cast iron. No moving parts, no planned obsolescence – it still works fine with an annual cleaning.