Scouting The Gates of Hell: A Visit To The Abandoned Glenwood Power Plant

For years, I’ve been interested in scouting the Gates of Hell. Which, oddly enough, happens to be in Yonkers.

Located on the shores of the Hudson, this is the local nickname for the Glenwood Power Plant, built from 1904 – 1906 and in operation until 1963. It has been abandoned ever since.

For most of my time as a scout, it’s been off-limits due to safety issues. However, in the past few years, its new owners have been working hard to stabilize it for its eventual rebirth as an arts-centered events complex, and I finally had a chance to visit this past week.

The Glenwood Power plant was originally built by the New York Central Railroad to provide electricity for its tracks heading north from Grand Central. It was later sold to Edison Light & Electric in 1936 and converted from coal to oil.

Today, walking amongst its buildings is like exploring a post-apocalyptic ghost town.

Though much has been cleared away (most of its machinery was sold for scrap in 1965), there are still some fantastic original elements, like this electrical pole visible from the Glenwood train stop:

I love this boarded-up doorway…

…which still has an ENTRANCE sign written across the top:

Piles of bricks are everywhere, some with really intricate patterns:

Hanging a left through two buildings near the river…

…we passed through a door…

…and arrived in the grandest of the four buildings on the complex: the gorgeous, cathedral-like turbine hall:

This atrium space was originally home to the plant’s turbines, long since removed:

I love the latticework leading up to the ceiling – would be amazing if the glass was one day restored.

The floors on the northern end are slowly being reinstalled – watch your step…

Meanwhile, the southern wall has become a canvas of sorts:

The turbine hall’s overhead crane is still in place…

…hook still ready for work:

Here’s a look at the crane’s machinery up top…

…a pretty impressive assembly of cogs, courtesy of Philadelphia’s Alfred Box & Co:

View from one of the side floors:

Looking north:

Scouting NY readers know I’m a big fan of skybridges…

…and man do I love the bridge connecting Glenwood’s turbine hall to the neighboring substation building…

…with gorgeous views of the Hudson:

What makes it especially distinctive are the two beautiful light stanchions…

…which just scream the era they hail from:

Really hoping to see these working again someday:

The substation building is dominated by four enormous floor-mounted rotary converters, used to convert alternating current to direct current for third rail power:

Each unit has its own distinct character…

A second for comparison. Amazing how industrial symmetry can be so gorgeous:

A peek below reveals quite a drop:

Next time you see it, this might be a restaurant:

A bit of floor tile work that has managed to survive:

The western end of the floor:

There’s no shortage of great industrial staircases:

The rest of the floors in the substation are pretty barren…

But you can always count on an impressive view:

I took a quick peek in this smaller building on the southwestern end of the property…

Here, the floor has completely caved in…

…and as water from the Hudson surges against the shore below, the sound of waves crashing explodes through the room like an echo chamber.

Some of the most interesting spaces can be found just walking between the buildings.

Love this passageway at the eastern end…

…strewn with all sorts of industrial bits that I assume once did something vital:

There’s quite a lot of interesting salvage spread about the grounds…

…which hopefully will be reintegrated back into the complex:

One particularly haunting ruin: the skeletal remains of the docks at the southern end of the property. In 1929, a worker at the plant drowned here after being pinned underwater by a concrete bucket. These may someday be rebuilt to allow boat access from New York City:

And finally, the view from the roof:

It’s nothing short of tragic that Glenwood’s grandeur was allowed to rot for decades, and I’m very much hoping it finds a new, assured existence as an arts/events space ala Dia:Beacon in the coming years. In the meantime, they’re willing to consider paying film/photo shoots, which will obviously help fund the restoration. Blade Runner 2, I’m looking in your direction…

As it turns out, the Gates of Hell are a lot more beautiful than you might have thought.

-SCOUT

Filming/rental availability: If interested, you can get in touch with the venue managers directly at joan@theplantmanor.com. Please be sure to mention you got the info from my site!

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