The minute that 383Fury pointed out the Waterside Generating Station was being shut down, I knew it was ON.
Getting in was far from simple. This spot was well secured. That never stops us though. Not when you have a power plant this huge just sitting shut down. It took some doing, but we quickly found our way around security and into the buildings.
Inside? It was LTV time. Everything was intact. Nothing broken, Nothing stolen. Most explorers never get to see buildings in this pristine state. You could hardly tell it was this buildings final hours.
I only got around to visiting here 2 or 3 times before demolition began. If I had it to do over again, I would have went in there every night for a month. There was just that much to see in there. Nevertheless, it was an honor to be amongst the only explorers to ever break into this facility.
History
The Waterside Generating Station located at 1st avenue and 40th street, just south of the U.N. It was a Beaux-Arts style industrial structure designed by C. Wellesley Smith. It was massive in size – covering 9.5 acres of prime Manhattan real estate.
Completed in 1900, the Waterside Generating Station produced both electricity and steam. Steam was, and continues to be, a vital energy source within NYC’s older buildings. Grand Central Terminal, for example, is heated with Steam provided by Con Ed, and also cooled by this steam via a chemical reaction between the steam and lithium bromide within a conversion plant located under the main floor of the terminal.
During a typical year, the Waterside Generating Station could produce over 2.4 million pounds of steam and 160 megawatts of electricity.
Today, there is no trace of this facility. It joins the long list of former industrial sites around NYC that have been wiped clean from the maps.
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