Sunflowers at the Steam Plant

 We met this morning at the Georgetown Steam Plant this morning.

The Steam Plant was built in 1907 to provide power to Seattle’s electric street car system, as well as the Seattle-Tacoma Interurban Railway. Trivia: Seattle was the 4th city in the world to have an electric street car system.

I've been there several times so I indulged my current obsession with sunflowers. It's in a sad little planting bed near a sculpture found to the rear of the steam plant. Under that small dome is a truck. It’s titled “Interspecies Communication” by Ela Lamblin and Lelavision.

We had a visitor: Leslie, from USk Las Vegas ( though she grew up in this area).

We were a large group with several first-timers.

More photos

Georgetown Steam Plant

 

10/12/24 Georgetown Steam Plant

Rear view of plant exterior

The Georgetown Steam Plant was built in 1906 to support the region’s growing electric streetcar system. Since its decommissioning in 1977, building owner Seattle City Light has worked to preserve, repair and restore the building. Although it’s open to the public monthly, USk Seattle hadn’t taken advantage of an open day since 2018. It was fun to get back to the historic, fascinating relic.

Its scale was daunting the first time and remained so for me this time. Instead of focusing on a single big piece of equipment, I used my comics approach to capture a few different views at varying distances. And like last time, I went outside for my last sketch of the building’s exterior – if only to warm up! With all that concrete and metal, the building’s interior is always cold (we need to plan our strategy better and visit on a scorching day).   

Steamplant

We met at the Georgetown Steamplant this morning.

The Steamplant was built in 1907 to provide power to Seattle's electric street car system, as well as the Seattle-Tacoma Interurban Railway. Trivia: Seattle was the 4th city in the world to have an electric street car system.

Since it's Inktober, I decided to work in ink and practice hatching. This is the General Electric Vertical Curtis Steam Turbine Generator. It's one of only two such left in place in the entire world. The other one is right next to it. This is the "newer" one.

I'd never gone out behind the plant. A volunteer suggested the facade there was the best. Then I noticed the interesting kinetic sculpture that another volunteer told me went to Burning Man. Under that small dome is a truck. It's titled "Interspecies Communication" by Ela Lamblin and Lelavision. Pulling a rope hanging from the bird would flap it's wings.

 

 We've not been to the Steamplant in a few years. Guessing by the turnout of sketchers, we could put it on our annual list!

 

Georgetown Steam Plant: Sun and Shadows

Unlike Tina, and so many other intrepid sketchers, I did not even try sketching the chilly interior of the Georgetown Steam Plant. I did a walk through and determined that I could probably spend a week drawing there and not exhaust the possibilities - it's that interesting. But I was dressed for warmer temps, so I headed outside where the sun was casting strong shadows on the white exterior of the the plant.





The Steam Plant is worth another visit, and I hope the great turnout we had indicates that others agree with me - just remember to dress for the chill! #georgetownsteamplant

Georgetown Steam Plant: Freezing, Inside and Out

3/10/18 Georgetown Steam Plant

When I woke this morning, our thermometer read 34 degrees. I can’t sketch outdoors in temperatures like that, but the USk meetup was at the Georgetown Steam Plant – an indoor venue – so I wasn’t concerned.

Little did I know that the plant’s interior would be just as cold as its exterior!

Owned by Seattle City Light, the 1907 plant is a National Historic Landmark. According to its website, “The plant’s two vertical Curtis turbines, manufactured by General Electric, helped establish the steam turbine as a practical and compact prime mover, capable of producing large amounts of power more cheaply and efficiently than other generators of the time.”

3/10/18

Open to the public only on the second Saturday each month, it’s a popular place for organized tours as well as sketchers, photographers and history and industry fans trying to take in its enormity. More than 30 sketchers walked through the plant with our jaws on the floor and our eyes popping out of our heads.

Everywhere I looked I saw huge machinery and equipment; I kept feeling like I was too close to be able to scale the scene properly on my sketchbook page. After wandering in awe for quite a while, I finally pinned myself against the wall of a narrow walkway to sketch . . . something (above) – I have no idea what. (Once again, I have to thank Gabi and his “Pocket Urban Sketching” workshop last year for helping me to finally understand how to scale something so huge on a small page! A year ago, I don’t think I would have known how to tackle this scene.)

By the time I finished, my fingers were numb, and for some reason I thought it might actually be warmer outside. After all, the sun was shining brilliantly in a cloudless sky. Although a chilly wind kept the sunshine from being comfortable, I joined a bunch of hardy sketchers in the parking lot to sketch the building’s exterior.

Brrrr! We were all so cold, inside and out! But it was a fantastic opportunity to sketch a piece of industrial history. And for me, it was definitely just a tiny piece. I’m going to go back again sometime to sketch more of it (maybe in the heat of summer, when it might be comfortable inside).

Throwdown in the sun!

A great turnout!

Georgetown Steamplant

Yesterday I received an email about an open house at the Georgetown Steamplant today. It is open every second Saturday but it seems today was special as they would have a presentation on future plans. I've had it on my list for several years. One time I went but it wasn't open. I think the monthly tours were closed down for about a year but have started up again within the past year.  

I went but didn't attend the presentation or take the tour. I read through the posters, though. 

It was built between 1906 and 1907 at a cost of $1 million, equivalent to $26 million today. It is a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and houses the only two Curtis vertical turbine generators left in place in the entire world.


I sketched the building from the car before it opened.   This is my tiny 3x5 book.  



Then I wandered the plant for about an hour, taking a lot of photos. It seemed very monochromatic so I decided to sketch this generator as it has a little color! It is a 10 megawatt alternating current generator made by General Electric.




I culled 160 photos down to about 100. They are here:
https://redharp.smugmug.com/MKB/2018-0113-Georgetown-Steamplant/