{"id":82087,"date":"2022-09-06T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/?p=82087"},"modified":"2022-08-31T16:05:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T20:05:27","slug":"a-minimalist-restoration-of-teslas-and-westinghouses-pioneering-generating-station-powers-the-regions-largest-tourism-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retrofitmagazine.com\/a-minimalist-restoration-of-teslas-and-westinghouses-pioneering-generating-station-powers-the-regions-largest-tourism-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"A Minimalist Restoration of Tesla\u2019s and Westinghouse\u2019s Pioneering Generating Station Powers the Region\u2019s Largest Tourism Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Niagara Parks Power Station (NPPS) is a decommissioned hydroelectric power plant designed in monumental Romanesque Revival style. It opened in 1905 in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It is the world\u2019s only existing power plant of its age that is still complete in its original form and with all its original equipment intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tour- ism and Culture Industries, is responsible for preserving and enhancing the natural beauty and cultural heritage of Niagara Falls and the Niagara River corridor. NPC retained +VG Architects Ltd. as architect of record and contract administrator for the adaptive reuse of NPPS as an iconic, safe and accessible educational, entertainment and tourism attraction. The province provided a $25 million ($19 million U.S.) loan for the project. Construction began in 2019 and was completed in 2021. Work was done in accordance with Canadian Historic Places Standards and Guidelines for Historic Restoration<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Constructed between 1901 and 1905, Niagara Parks Power Station occupies a unique position in the history of the electrical and industrial revolutions, for it is here that George Westinghouse and his business partner Nikola Tesla used their generators and alternating current to supply electricity on an unprecedented scale. <\/strong>PHOTO: Niagara Parks Commission<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In pondering an approach to its historic reuse, +VG Architects took a \u201cFirst, do no harm\u201d Hippocratic-oath approach. The design team asked: \u201cWhat are we restoring back to? A brand-new version of what we imagine the original structure looked like?\u201d The team wanted to preserve the building\u2019s cumulative history and its many layers of changes. They\u2019re all part of the building\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, the project won the 2021 Lieutenant Governor\u2019s Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation. It helped that +VG Architects knew the venue well: In 2016, NPC engaged the firm to lead adaptive-reuse visioning exercises. In 2017, +VG Architects co-wrote the Niagara Parks Commission Generating Stations Strategic Conservation Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE POWER PLANT<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 1897, the Canadian Niagara Power Company (CNPC) selected the Westinghouse Company to supply alternating current (AC) generators for its new generating station. The choice of AC and Westinghouse as the project\u2019s supplier capped a struggle between Thomas Edison and William Kelvin (of color-temperature fame), who proposed using direct current (DC) as a safer method, and George Westinghouse and his partner Nikola Tesla, who developed an AC generator that could supply electricity over long distances to a vast geographic area. This technological breakthrough facilitated the electrical industrial revolution and remains the worldwide standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneurs J.P. Morgan and John Jacob Astor IV (who would die in the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912) led the consortium that financed NPPS\u2019 initial construction. Algernon S. Bell and the firm of Copeland & Dole, both based in New York, have been attributed as architects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1905, CNPC was the most advanced hydroelectric generating station in the world, allowing for greater output for less cost than previously possible. The station featured advances in oil reclaim, transmission towers, remote transformers, cable and switchboard design, and fire and safety practices. CNPC\u2019s development led to the establishment of international protocols for the sharing of water rights between Canada and the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The view of the generator hall from the entrance balcony shows the construction hoarding, right, covering the conversion of the shaft to a glass-elevator ride to the tailrace tunnel.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

CNPC, also known as the William Birch Rankine Hydroelectric Power Station, is located on the western side of the Niagara River above Horseshoe Falls, the biggest and most picturesque of Niagara\u2019s three cataracts, thanks to its 2,600-foot-wide curve. Horseshoe Falls also boasts the highest average annual flow rate, according to Wikipedia, of any North American waterfall: 634,000 gallons per second. The power plant was set well back from the Niagara River to minimize visual interference with views of the falls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It opened with two 10,000-horsepower generators; by 1927, it had expanded to 11 generators supplying a total of 120,500 horsepower. The station ceased operation in 2006. Ownership was transferred to NPC in 2009 with the proviso that it never be used again to generate electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STABILIZED CONSERVATION<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The powerhouse\u2019s excellent condition permitted +VG Architects to focus its approach on stabilized conservation instead of restoration or renovation. The design team preserved all interior artifacts and features in situ in areas of high heritage and architectural value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHOTOS: <\/strong>David Lasker Photography, unless otherwise noted<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In rehabilitating the building, +VG Architects was tasked with changing the building\u2019s use from light industrial to public assembly, a challenge that required adherence to code and safety regulations while preserving the building\u2019s historical integrity and as much as possible of the public\u2019s view of the powerhouse\u2019s original operation areas and equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The wave motif of the ticket desk in the generator hall evokes the water powering the plant while inconspicuously accommodating accessibility requirements with standing- and wheelchair- height counters.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The power station, divided longitudinally into a generator hall and inner forebay, measures 587-feet long and 102-feet wide, totaling 59,874 square feet. The 1-story, symmetrical, rectilinear structure is clad with Queenston blue dolomite limestone rusticated blocks, voussoirs and keystones. Its hip roofs feature green tiles with copper-clad brackets, eaves and soffits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vast generator hall is the power station\u2019s principal space, soaring 64 feet from the floor to the underside of the roof. The hall\u2019s character-defining elements are the 11 generators; the long rows of white cabinets holding oil-resistance switches, the oldest type of circuit breaker; the traveling overhead crane that lifted the generators to facilitate removal for maintenance and repairs; and the hall\u2019s unobstructed sightlines of these artifacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visitor galley and viewing deck along the north wall hosted a stream of visitors, testament to the public\u2019s interest in engineering technology during the early 20th century and CNPC\u2019s pride in its ground- breaking setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water entered the powerhouse through the inner forebay on the building\u2019s east side. The inner forebay contained the fine ice-rack screen that strained debris and ice before the water flowed into the mouths of the penstocks, the large intake pipes that delivered the water to the turbines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other components include the gathering weir and outer forebay, which channeled water from the river into the power station, and the wheel pit, which descends 165 feet to a narrow cut into bedrock running the length of the generator hall that contains the turbines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPACE PLANNING<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the excellent condition of the station\u2019s interiors, the interior design team was able to focus on the planning of the space and circulation in the generator hall and inner forebay for their conversion into exhibit, entertainment, retail and food-service areas.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Westinghouse rheostat selector switches were repurposed as exhibits in the generator hall.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Today, visitors enter the building through the north entrance\u2019s monumental bronze double doors and proceed through a new vestibule and ticketing area into the generator hall. From there, the original portals with rolldown doors that separate the inner forebay and generator hall lead visitors into the inner forebay, now a retail store with capacity for future dining and entertainment additions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the project\u2019s outset, a cofferdam was built between the outer forebay and the Niagara River to dewater the forebay. This was done to ascertain the condition of the building\u2019s foundation and submerged stonework, to undertake necessary repairs and to build the inner forebay\u2019s new dry basement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the water-filled inner forebay underwent the most significant intervention. Originally, the basin extended the length of the powerhouse. Now, only a central section, 98-feet-wide, was retained to show how the semi-exterior space functioned: Water entered under the submerged arches of the inner forebay\u2019s outer wall and flowed up to the fine ice rack. Around this open section, the team poured concrete walls at the rear and the sides to create a dry basement for new building infrastructure, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical rooms, and fire safety and emergency escape routes. Above the basement, a new floor slab was poured for the retail and presentation areas. By burying the infrastructure, the inner forebay\u2019s open sightlines were preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHOTOS: <\/strong>David Lasker Photography, unless otherwise noted<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A holding area was created where guests seeing the evening lightshow attend the pre-show talk. New glass gates were installed in the portals between the inner forebay and the generator hall to prevent bottlenecks as groups of up to 147 guests viewing successive shows simultaneously enter and exit the generator hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

+VG Architects unobtrusively added four new code-mandated emergency exit doors along the west fa\u00e7ade by extending existing windows to the floor to create additional door openings, then replicated the single existing heritage door.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The powerhouse\u2019s excellent condition permitted +VG Architects to focus its approach on stabilized conservation instead of restoration or renovation.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Many of the powerhouse\u2019s smaller original artifacts were cleaned, degreased and relocated to function as museum exhibits, furnishings and retail display fixtures. These include governors, which regulated the speed of the generators; a Francis turbine; and massive timbers that were stacked in front of the penstock mouths to stop water from flowing into the turbines during maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly designed furnishings, such as the ticket desk in the generator hall and the cash wrap in the inner forebay\u2019s retail store, reflect the plant\u2019s primary natural resource\u2014water\u2014in their sculptural, undulating wave motif, which inconspicuously accommodates accessibility requirements. The taller section of the ticket desk\u2019s wave surface incorporates a standing-height counter; the lower section is at wheelchair height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in the public areas, finishes, furnishings and fixtures recreate the building\u2019s industrial look and feel. The new washrooms, for instance, continue the use of the original washroom walls\u2019 subway tile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tunnel, a major new attraction, opened in the generator hall in July 2022. A new glass-walled elevator descends 180 feet through the station\u2019s eight underground levels to the wheel-pit floor, where visitors enter the 2,200-foot-long tailrace tunnel that returned wastewater from the turbines to the lower Niagara River. Visitors walk past interpretive exhibits and step out to a new viewing platform, extending into the river where they enjoy a unique panorama at the base of the falls\u2014Horseshoe Falls thundering to their right and the American Falls to the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retrofit Team<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

ARCHITECT OF RECORD AND CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR: <\/strong>+VG Architects Ltd.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n