Father Pitt

Why should the beautiful die?

Allegheny City Electric Station, North Side

Allegheny City Electric Station
These pictures are very large composites; expect 24 megabytes of data if you enlarge the one above.

Commercial electric light was only a few years old when this power station was built in 1889. It was built in a restrained Victorian classical style that seems meant to make electric power look tame and respectable. But just a few years later, a new building was added next door that conveys quite a different architectural message.

Irwin Avenue Substation

The Irwin Avenue Substation was built in 1895, but it has the look of something built shortly after the Norman Conquest. The architectural message here seems to be that electricity is such a mighty force that only a medieval fortress can keep it under control. This building still belongs to Duquesne Light, and it is still called the Irwin Avenue Substation, even though Irwin Avenue has been called Brighton Road for more than ninety years.

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One response to “Allegheny City Electric Station, North Side”

  1. Von Hindenburg

    They finger death at their gloves’ end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
    He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
    Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
    And hale him forth like a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall.

    The Sons of Martha work in that second building.

    Reply

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