CONSOLIDATED EDISON POWER HOUSE
First Avenue between East 38th and 39th Streets
NOVEMBER 9, 1938. ABBOTT FILE L-31

On the same day she photographed the Chrysler and Daily News Buildings from East 39th Street, Abbott walked down to the Consolidated Edison Power House on the East River. Known as Waterside, this coal-burning steam plant was built in 1900 to provide electricity for midtown Manhattan. From the river, the plant conveniently received large shipments of coal, which burned at a rate of ten tons per hour. To capture the overhead maze of bridges and coal conveyers--a standard Precisionist subject--Abbott looked southwest from the 39th Street pier.

Today, the power plant still stands, but the substitution of oil for coal has rendered the conveyers unnecessary. The F.D.R. Drive has replaced the pier where Abbott stood.

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