Ottawa Street Power Station
Encyclopedia
Ottawa Street Power Station is a former municipal electric and steam utility generating station for the Lansing Board of Water and Light in Lansing, Michigan
, located on the Grand River
in the city's central business district currently being redeveloped as corporate headquarters for the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America
.
, completed in two phases. The first phase, which consisted of the southern half of the building, was completed in 1939. The second phase was completed in 1946. In total, the project costed $4 million, all of it from ratepayers without the issuance of bonds or government funds.
The 176 feet (53.6 m) tall Art Deco
step-back structure sits on a polished black granite
water table, with an intricate exterior design of multicolor brick. The design symbolizes the combustion of coal, and graduates from dark purple at the base through reds and orange in the middle, to light yellow at the top, alternating with bands of limestone, and with limestone parapets and trim. The Ottawa Street station was praised for its engineering and architecture in trade publications of the day, and immediately became the city's preeminent Art Deco landmark. Bowd subsequently designed a number of other prominent Art Deco and Streamline Moderne
buildings in the Lansing area, including the J.W. Knapp Company Building
.
. Massive renovations to convert the plant to an office building are currently underway by The Christman Company, with completion of the entire 7 acres (28,328 m²) office campus scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.
on November 26, 2008.
It is the 22nd property listed as a featured property of the week in a program of the National Park Service that began in July 2008.
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
, located on the Grand River
Grand River (Michigan)
The Grand River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Michigan. It runs through the cities of Jackson, Eaton Rapids, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Grand Haven.-Description:...
in the city's central business district currently being redeveloped as corporate headquarters for the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America
Accident Fund
Accident Fund Insurance Company of America is a workers' compensation insurance company headquartered in Lansing, Michigan licensed to offer their services in 49 states plus the District of Columbia. The company is an operating unit of Accident Fund Holdings, the 10th largest writer of workers...
.
Design and construction
The engineering design of the plant was by Ralph C. Roe and Allen Burns of the firm of Burns and Roe, and represented an improvement over the design of the Bremo Station in Virginia, which the two had designed while employed at Electric Management and Engineering Company. The architectural design was by Edwyn A. Bowd of Bowd and Munson. Construction began in 1937 and, due to material shortages caused by the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, completed in two phases. The first phase, which consisted of the southern half of the building, was completed in 1939. The second phase was completed in 1946. In total, the project costed $4 million, all of it from ratepayers without the issuance of bonds or government funds.
The 176 feet (53.6 m) tall Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
step-back structure sits on a polished black granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
water table, with an intricate exterior design of multicolor brick. The design symbolizes the combustion of coal, and graduates from dark purple at the base through reds and orange in the middle, to light yellow at the top, alternating with bands of limestone, and with limestone parapets and trim. The Ottawa Street station was praised for its engineering and architecture in trade publications of the day, and immediately became the city's preeminent Art Deco landmark. Bowd subsequently designed a number of other prominent Art Deco and Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
buildings in the Lansing area, including the J.W. Knapp Company Building
J.W. Knapp Company Building
The J.W. Knapp Company Building is a historic five-story, Streamline Moderne building in Lansing, Michigan, United States. Designed by Orlie Munson of the Bowd–Munson Company, which also designed several other Art Deco landmarks in Lansing, including the Ottawa Street Power Station, it was...
.
Operating History
The Ottawa Street station provided electricity and steam to the downtown Lansing area from 1939 through the late 1980s. The plant had a generating capacity of 81,500-kilowatts. By 1971, improvements at the Board of Water and Light's Eckert Station permitted the Ottawa Street Station to operate as a backup station for electric generation. It continued to provide steam service into the 1980s. In 1984, the Board of Water and Light's Eckert Station began providing steam service, initially as a backup to the Ottawa Street Station, but eventually as the primary steam service source. As equipment became obsolete, it was removed from the Ottawa Street Station, and ultimately it was decommissioned in 1992 for electric and steam. In 2001, a portion of the station was renovated to provide chilled water service for air conditioning. It continued to operate as a water chilling plant until September 2009, when the Board of Water and Light completed a new chilled water plant in downtown Lansing.Redevelopment
Following decommissioning, the City of Lansing explored various options for redevelopment of the Ottawa Street Station. In 2007, it was sold to be redeveloped as corporate headquarters for the Accident Fund Insurance Company of AmericaAccident Fund
Accident Fund Insurance Company of America is a workers' compensation insurance company headquartered in Lansing, Michigan licensed to offer their services in 49 states plus the District of Columbia. The company is an operating unit of Accident Fund Holdings, the 10th largest writer of workers...
. Massive renovations to convert the plant to an office building are currently underway by The Christman Company, with completion of the entire 7 acres (28,328 m²) office campus scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.
National Register of Historic Places Listing
The Ottawa Street Station was listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on November 26, 2008.
It is the 22nd property listed as a featured property of the week in a program of the National Park Service that began in July 2008.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places featured properties and districtsNational Register of Historic Places featured properties and districtsThis is a list of National Register of Historic Places featured properties and districts. The National Park Service features one new listing on the National Register of Historic Places each week...
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Michigan
External links
- "Ottawa Street Power Station Receives National Designation: New Accident Fund Headquarters Added to National Register of Historic Places", March 18, 2009, a press release at Accident Fund, the owner