The plant has endured a “rare combination of deeply caring people and also a kind of benign neglect.” Credit: GEORGETOWN STEAM PLANT

The plant has endured a “rare combination of deeply caring people and also a kind of benign neglect.”

The plant has endured a “rare combination of deeply caring people and also a kind of benign neglect.” GEORGETOWN STEAM PLANT

There’s something about an old building that proves irresistible to the imagination. My urge to explore the abandoned relics of our industrial past is strong, so I jumped at the chance to go on a (safe, legal) tour of the Georgetown Steam Plant, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1984 and now owned and operated by Seattle City Light. On June 10, the steam plant will be hosting an open house in conjunction with the Georgetown Carnival, and on June 22, it will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the first day the plant generated electricity in 1907.