Ottawa Street Power Station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Ottawa Street Power Station
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Ottawa Street Power Station
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| Area | 1.35 acres (5,500 m2) |
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| Built | 1937-1939 |
| Architect | Burns & Roe Bowd & Munson |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| NRHP reference No. | 08001103 |
| Added to NRHP | November 26, 2008 |
The Ottawa Street Power Station was once a busy building in Lansing, Michigan. It used to make electricity and steam for the city. This important station was run by the Lansing Board of Water and Light. It sits right by the Grand River in downtown Lansing. Today, this historic building has a new life as the main office for the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.
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Building a Landmark: Design and Construction
The Ottawa Street Power Station was designed by two teams. Ralph C. Roe and Allen Burns from the company Burns and Roe handled the engineering. They made sure the plant could work well. Edwyn A. Bowd from Bowd and Munson designed how the building would look. He made it a beautiful and unique place.
Building the station started in 1937. It was finished in two parts because of problems getting materials during World War II. The first part was done in 1939. The second part was completed in 1946. The whole project cost $4 million. This money came from the city's power users, not from government funds or loans.
The building is 176-foot (54 m) tall and has a special style called Art Deco. It has a unique step-back shape. The bottom of the building is made of shiny black granite. The outside walls are made of colorful bricks. The brick colors change from dark purple at the bottom to reds and orange in the middle, and then to light yellow at the top. This design shows how coal burns. There are also bands of limestone and limestone decorations.
The Ottawa Street station was praised for its engineering and design. It quickly became a famous Art Deco building in Lansing. Edwyn A. Bowd also designed other well-known Art Deco buildings in the area, like the J.W. Knapp Company Building.
How the Power Station Worked
The Ottawa Street station provided electricity and steam to downtown Lansing from 1939 to 1989. It could produce 81,500 kilowatts of power. By 1971, another power station, the Eckert Station, became more advanced. This meant the Ottawa Street Station was used as a backup for making electricity.
It continued to provide steam service into the 1980s. Later, the Eckert Station also started providing steam. Eventually, the Ottawa Street Station's equipment became old. It was officially stopped from making electricity and steam in 1992.
In 2001, part of the station was updated. It started making chilled water for air conditioning. It worked as a water chilling plant until September 2009. At that time, the Board of Water and Light finished a new chilled water plant in downtown Lansing.
Giving the Building a New Life
After the power station closed, the City of Lansing looked for new ways to use the building. In 2007, it was sold to the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America. They wanted to turn it into their main office.
Huge changes were made to convert the old power plant into a modern office building. This work took two years and was done by The Christman Company. The project was finished in early 2011. The building now has a 7-acre (28,000 m2) campus around it.
This redevelopment project won many awards. Some of these awards include:
- Richard H. Driehaus National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
- Global Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute.
- Beyond Green High Performance Building First Place Honor Award for a Historic Reuse from the National Institute of Building Sciences.
- Governor's Award for Historic Preservation from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
- Design Award from the Michigan Historic Preservation Network.
- Construction and Design Award from the Engineering Society of Detroit.
- Green Project of the Year from the Construction Association of Michigan.
- Excellence in Economic Development from the International Economic Development Council.
- IDEAS2 Presidential Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Steel Construction.
National Recognition
The Ottawa Street Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 26, 2008. This list includes important historic places across the United States. It was also featured as a special property of the week by the National Park Service.
