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The Steam Plant
The Plant Site on Lake Union, 1914
In 1908, the site for the Steam
Plant was chosen. It was located on a wedge shaped property at the intersection of
Fairview Avenue East and Eastlake Avenue East on the southeast shore of Lake Union. Lake
Union was a historical industrial area in Seattle, with one of the first functions of the
lake being transportation, initially with logs and later with the barging of coal. Some of
the industries around the lake were the Ford Motor Assembly Plant (the present Craftsman
Press Building), the Lake Union Dry-dock and the Coolidge Propeller Company. Lake Union's
most famous early industrial use was the original seaplane hangar of William Boeing.
City Light Superintendent J.D. Ross' philosophy on building the Steam Plant was:
"We feel that one of the principal uses of the Steam Plant is to furnish an abundance
of power at the lowest rates in order that we may bring new industries, both large and
small, to Seattle." Ross' belief sent the private power companies lobbying to
Washington, where they were encouraging Washington, and the nation, to refer to us as the
Washington Soviet Socialist Republic. By 1931, the private power folks came as close to
reclaiming their position in the industry as they were going to get when they enticed
Seattle Mayor Edwards to fire J. D. Ross. This backfired and, in a recall campaign, the
Mayor was fired instead. Although the memory dims, the effects of this power struggle
continue to provide us some of the lowest electricity rates in the nation.
Use of electricity for power at the time was considered a technological miracle of
modern life. The men who designed the electric power plants felt the excitement of this
new power, and constructed buildings that reflected the magic and force of this new
technology. Mr. Huntington was one of those men, with his previous creation of the Hydro
House and other city buildings reflecting this style.
The building was designed to serve as a civic symbol for City Light; its appearance
reflected power and the future. Imagine the visual impact the building must have had -
especially in the evening with the enormous City Light sign on the roof gleaming across
the lake, the spot lights dancing on the water, and the windows illuminating the glow of
the machinery inside. |
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City Light's Steam Plant, 1928 |
Construction
Phase I was constructed in 1914, a parallelogram in plan, approximately 90 feet deep,
100 feet long and 47 feet high (from street-level) containing four boilers, pumps, tanks,
and generation equipment. Above the boilers stood two steel stacks, rising 95 feet above
the roof. Brick was used on the north wall as fill-in material in anticipation of future
expansion. (This would be broken out to connect the phases together after each
construction).
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The Phase II was designed and constructed in 1918, expanding the generating capacity
by adding four more boilers, an additional turbo generator, and two more stacks. |
Phase II artist rendering, 1918. |
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Phase III was designed in 1920 and constructed in 1921. In this addition the exterior
of the plant assumed a more formal civic appearance, increasing the height by adding a
second story. The penthouse was where the control panels that distributed the power across
the city were kept. Six more boilers, another generator and three more stacks were added,
bringing the total production capacity of the plant to 30,000 kilowatts.
View From the Inside
The following is an excerpt from a report that was written in 1974 for a college paper
by James T. Blomquist, an Environmental Lobbyist. Mr. Blomquist had the opportunity to see
the Steam Plant while it was in operation.
A masonry wall separates the turbines from their boilers. Upon entering the boiler area
it becomes evident that one is entering the mechanical-industrial side of the plant. It
gives the effect of walking backstage of a play. The activities behind the stage provide
the necessary support for the actors on the stage but none of this activity is visible to
the audience.
The boilers behind the masonry curtain provide the steam for the turbines - mystical,
whirling players in the electricity production. But none of their activity or support is
evident as all vital connections lay under the floor or behind the walls. The turbines
sit, seemingly isolated from mechanical realities. They seem expressive of the machine on
a much higher level than the merely functional.
Walking back between the boilers toward the west windows allows one a view of the vast
power of the generating system. The boilers, which stand 26 feet high, tower above the
interior space. The space near the windows is compressed by heaters, pumps and other
equipment allowing only narrow passageways for walking. Second level catwalks and passages
allow workmen to directly confront the mammoth machinery.
The variety of the pipes and valves seems endless. As opposed to the front room, which
has a white ceiling, the back room has a black one, perhaps blackened by use if not
design. One of the interesting features in the boiler room is a clock-like dial that hangs
from the ceiling. Its scale reads from 0 to 40 and with this the operators can tell the
output of the plant in thousand kilowatts.
Walking among the mute machines, only imagination can provide the sensations of the
plant in operation.
Technical Evaluation
Stuart Grover, a Development Consultant who evaluated the equipment for historical
purposes for City Light, gives a more technical outlook on the process.
The Steam Plant housed 14 boilers that relied on water tubes for containing the water
and raising the temperature of the resulting steam through Foster superheaters. The
burners used by the boilers enable atomized, heated fuel (bunker oil #2) to be mixed with
steam to facilitate burning, producing 200 pounds of pressure. The steam that ran the
turbines is condensed by three jet condensers, in the basement of the building. These
condensers are capable of condensing 97,500 pounds of steam per hour, and utilize a 28.5
inch vacuum.
The steam could be regulated and released at different pressures spinning the turbines
producing electricity. Flowing at a high voltage of 420 Volts it would run through
transformers that were housed in the penthouse and released, as needed, to the city.
Decommissioned
In September of 1987, the Steam Plant was finally decommissioned. After years of no
use, except for occasional firing of the boilers, the time had come. Resolution 27686
reads: "Seattle City Light's Lake Union Steam Plant (LUSP) should be decommissioned
as soon as possible and a process set in motion to surplus the property. In order to
reduce the magnitude of City Light's next rate increase, the executive should attempt to
structure the terms of any sale such that City Light will realize revenues during the 1989
calendar year.
By July, 1987, the Eastlake community, the City of Seattle, surrounding communities and
various interested individuals were already at work gathering support for the nomination
of the Steam Plant and Hydro House as an historical landmark. On March 2, 1988, the
Landmarks Preservation Board officially designated them as Historical Landmarks.
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