Superstructure_]

The design of the facework of the power house received the personal
attention of the directors of the company, and its character and the
class of materials to be employed were carefully considered. The
influence of the design on the future value of the property and the
condition of the environment in general were studied, together with
the factors relating to the future ownership of the plant by the city.
Several plans were taken up looking to the construction of a power
house of massive and simple design, but it was finally decided to
adopt an ornate style of treatment by which the structure would be
rendered architecturally attractive and in harmony with the recent
tendencies of municipal and city improvements from an architectural
standpoint. At the initial stage of the power house design Mr.
Stanford White, of the firm of McKim, Mead & White, of New York,
volunteered his services to the company as an adviser on the matter of
the design of the facework, and, as his offer was accepted, his
connection with the work has resulted in the development of the
present exterior design and the selection of the materials used.

The Eleventh Avenue façade is the most elaborately treated, but the
scheme of the main façade is carried along both the 58th and 59th
Street fronts. The westerly end of the structure, facing the river,
may ultimately be removed in case the power house is extended to the
Twelfth Avenue building line for the reception of fourteen generating
equipments; and for this reason this wall is designed plainly of less
costly material.

The general style of the facework is what may be called French
Renaissance, and the color scheme has, therefore, been made rather