Industrial Museum: The Georgetown Steam Plant, Seattle, Washington (Sea 13)

 

Georgetown Steam Plant, July 2019 (from Google® Maps)

Early in 2026, some Seattle-area film photographers posted an invitation on the Photrio forum to meet at the Georgetown Steam Plant. That was a nice idea to meet other photographers from the Puget Sound area.   

The Seattle Electric Company built the Georgetown Steam Plant in 1906-1907 to provide electricity for the city's electric streetcar system and for the interurban trolley. The plant was built near the Duwamish Waterway in the Georgetown area of Seattle. 

The Steam Plant is a National Historic Landmark, a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark, and a City of Seattle Landmark. According to the GEORGETOWN STEAM PLANT Community Development Authority (CDA), "We use SHTEAM (Science, History, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) to inspire the Community to envision and create a future where we all belong, and this historic building  generates Community Power."

Six or seven of us wandered around in the fascinating setting of pipes, machines, valves, ladders, and catwalks. It was like taking time travel to another era. My friends had a variety of cameras, mostly medium format. I used Kodak Tri-X 400 film in my Hasselblad 501CM camera with 40mm, 50mm, and 80mm lenses. My compact Linhof ProfiPort tripod supported the camera for all interior exposures. The light was directional from high distant windows, so all my exposures were in the ½ to 2 second range.

 

The mid-level catwalk may be the best way to get a sense of the scale of the machinery and piping.

 

One of two vertical Curtis steam turbines (40mm Distagon lens)

Near the base of the Curtis turbine

Access gantry

Boilers (40mm Distagon lens)

Steam piping. Is that asbestos sheathing?

 

Steam piping with access ports (80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens)

 

Dear Readers, maybe I showed you too many pictures. But I love the shapes, shadows, and textures of old industrial sites. And it is rare that you can enter a place like this legally. 

 

My 40mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens was very handy for this setting because of the tight spaces.  

 

Northeast Photographics in Bath, Maine, developed the film and scanned it. The files were very contrasty. Tri-X 400 should have handled the range of exposures with normal development, but I could have specified N-1 to help reduce the contrast. Regardless, the TIFF files contain plenty of data to manipulate with a curves tool. 

 

When you visit Seattle, take time to see the Georgetown Steam Plant at 6605 13th Ave. South. The Steam Plant is open to the public every second Saturday.