⚡ The Forgotten Powerhouse: The Westinghouse Building and the Legacy We’re Letting Fade

⚡ The Forgotten Powerhouse: The Westinghouse Building and the Legacy We’re Letting Fade

In a city literally built on power—electric power—it’s hard not to feel a deep sadness when you pass by the old Westinghouse building in Niagara Falls.

Behind a chain-link fence, flanked by used cars and rusted-out signage, sits a structure that should be one of the most celebrated landmarks in American innovation. This isn’t just any building. This is where Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and a cast of world-changing engineers transformed the natural might of Niagara Falls into the first large-scale alternating current power system on Earth. This is where the modern world began.

And yet, it stands neglected.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away sits the Adams Power Plant Transformer House, the only surviving structure of what was once the most advanced hydroelectric generating station in the world. Built in 1895 and named for Edward Dean Adams—a visionary businessman who helped launch the Niagara Falls Power Company—the building is a National Historic Landmark and a testament to American industrial genius. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in the Beaux-Arts style and constructed from locally quarried limestone, the Transformer House was part of a system that included ten 5,000-horsepower Westinghouse generators and a 7,000-foot tailrace tunnel lined with more than 16 million bricks. The system powered Buffalo, Lockport, and Tonawanda, and marked the dawn of the electric age.

But for every structure that’s preserved, there’s another that’s ignored.

Across the river, in Canada, they’ve built a beautifully curated museum to honor this history—the battle of the currents, Tesla’s dream, and the radical transformation of energy. But here, in the very place where it happened, our monuments to innovation are falling apart. It’s more than an embarrassment—it’s a failure of vision.

This isn’t just local history. This is world history. So important, in fact, that Yugoslavia once gifted the United States a statue of Nikola Tesla, which now stands not far from the Falls, paying tribute to a man whose work electrified the planet. But what are we doing with that legacy? Letting it rot?

New York State—and the federal government—must step in. Not to punish private owners, but to partner with them. Or if they won’t cooperate, to intervene for the public good.

Let’s restore the Westinghouse building.

Let’s tell the full story—from the Adams Transformer House to Tesla’s vision, from the first hum of hydroelectricity to the global grid that powers us today.

Let’s stop treating our past like rubble and start treating it like the foundation of our future.

Because this is not just about bricks and mortar.

It’s about honoring the current that still runs through all of us.

In contrast, The Niagara Parks Power Station and Tunnel in Niagara Falls, Canada is one of the most breathtaking and brilliantly restored attractions anywhere—offering a rare glimpse into the raw power and genius that shaped modern energy. Housed in a beautifully preserved hydroelectric plant from 1905, this immersive museum lets you walk among massive turbines, descend 180 feet in a glass elevator, and journey through a 2,200-foot tunnel carved through rock—leading to an awe-inspiring viewing platform at the base of Horseshoe Falls.

With engaging exhibits, expert staff, and the dazzling Currents light show at night, it’s a perfect fusion of history, innovation, and natural wonder. This isn’t just a museum—it’s an unforgettable experience that brings the legacy of Tesla and the power of Niagara to life.

We know it’s not typical for a tour company to highlight something negative—but we believe part of celebrating the best of Niagara Falls means being honest about where we can do better. This building—this story—deserves more. To those in power: if you’re reading this, take action. There have been private efforts in the past, and no doubt some with good intentions, but it’s time to treat this as more than just an old structure. It’s time to revitalize this landmark, and honor what it truly represents—for our city, our history, and our region’s place in the story of human progress.

No one would know that this is where the modern age began.