An inside look at the former New York Central Railroad’s Glenwood Power Station. Yonkers Power Plant was in operation from 1907 until 1936, and we created 30 breathtaking photos of it. In the 1950s, the Yonkers Power Station was placed on standby; it was shut down in 1963.
One of two power stations built for the electrification of the New York Central Railroad from Grand Central Terminal to the northern suburbs of New York City is the Glenwood Power Plant, also known as the Yonkers Power Plant, in Yonkers.
The Glenwood Power Plant was built as a consequence of a law that was imposed after 1900 to electrify New York’s metropolitan railways. It was created by Minnesota-based architects Reed & Stern. The 150 Acre Brownfield Opportunity Area includes around 4.7 acres that belong to the Glenwood Power Plant.
History
In order to develop Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, NYC attempted to electrify its lines entering and leaving the city in 1902. Between 1904 and 1906, a large brick building in the Romanesque-Revival style was constructed in Glenwood-on-the-Hudson. It was designed by architects Charles Reed and Allen Stem.
The Plant is highly significant since it was constructed and created in tandem with the renovation of Grand Central Terminal to allow for the first electrification of the New York Central Railroad. The Plant provided power to the railway for thirty years, but it quickly became more affordable for the business to buy electricity than than produce its own.
Between 1907 through 1936, the power plant was under the ownership and control of the New York Central train, and its only use was to power the train. Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company, which in 1951 joined with Consolidated Edison (ConEd), purchased the Glenwood Power Plant from the government in 1936. The power plant was converted into a public utility, providing electricity not only to NYC but also to the neighbourhood’s residents.
In the 1950s, the Yonkers Power Station was placed on standby; it was shut down in 1963. Although all of the primary gear, including the turbines and boilers, has been taken out, most of the interior is still visible. The building was sold to Independent Scrap Iron and Steel Company of Brooklyn in 1965. It was later abandoned and derelict in the late 1970s.
In the spring of 2012, the Yonkers Power Station was sold to the Goren Group, a new owner that intends to utilise the structures. The site was afterwards cleansed of its overgrowth, which was the first indication of any official work done there since the substation was shut down in the middle of the 1980s. In order to safeguard the masonry from the invasive plant, ivy was meticulously removed from the structures that house the power station and the substation.
Beginning in 2013, the facility underwent renovations to become PowerHouse, an event complex with an emphasis on the arts. Restaurants, a 90-room hotel, and a 22-slip marina are all planned for Phase II.
The volunteer was compelled to use a lot of resources at first to protect the property from squatters and carry out above-ground cleaning tasks including the removal of dioxin dust that was left on surfaces from the old furnaces.
The Goren Group received $5 million from the state’s Economic Development Council on December 8, 2016, to help stabilise the power plant, which is expected to cost $15.3 million. In October 2017, the project, which entailed site cleanup and stabilisation of the walls, ceilings, and floors 3, was finished.
Breathtaking Photos of Abandoned Plant
At Glenwood Power Plant, there are really two significant buildings: the main generating building and the smaller substation and transformer building to the north.
There are two components to the generating structure. The turbine room in the northern section is a vast, open space that resembles a large arcade, with walkways on each side and light coming in from the monitor roof above. Above the entryway on the east end is a huge metal hook with the number “1” engraved on it. There are pools of still water within the gutted pit below.
The primary generator switchboard is located on the second level of this side of the structure, hidden behind an operational gallery from which a plant manager could keep an eye on things. Other strange machine parts are scattered around here and below. On the third story, just a little hallway on the east end of the building joins the two sides. A staircase ascends to this level. Between the producing structure and the substation, there is an outdoor promenade.
The boiler chambers are located on the south side of the generating structure. The space is divided into two halves, with an aisle leading to a Hudson River vista immediately across from the Palisades. There are private apartments on each side of the aisle, the walls of which have crumbled into enormous brick mounds. Offices and restrooms were located in small rooms on the east end. The support for the coal bins and smokestacks is located many floors above the ground.
Who designed the Glenwood Power Plant?
The architectural company Charles Reed & Alan Stem, which also created Grand Central Terminal in collaboration with Warren & Wetmore, was responsible for the design of the Power Station. The Glenwood and Port Morris Power Stations, their related substations, and several local stations on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad lines were all designed by Reed & Stem, experts in the construction of railroad structures.
