Historical
The Homan Square Power House provided heating, cooling, electricity, and air to operate the pneumatic tube mail system for the entire 5 million square feet of the original Sears, Roebuck and Co. world headquarters on Chicago's West Side. It is listed as a contributing structure on the National Register of Historic Places.
Built in 1905, the power house originally contained massive coal-fired boilers providing steam for heat and to power a row of steam turbine electric generators. Over each boiler a coal hopper held 200 tons of coal. The steam turbines were eventually removed and replaced by some of the first commercial air-conditioning units manufactured by York. (more power house history here.)
The historic images in this gallery offer a small glimpse into the operations of a state-of-the-art, and evolving, heat and power plant.
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