But the area’s most prominent waterfront landmark, the 1906 Long Island City Power Station, lies just outside the project boundary. Although the huge red brick complex and its four great smokestacks are not in the way of any planned development, unusual structural conditions may make it an attractive site for private development, if the city’s project actually gets off the ground.
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To supply electricity for tunnel service, the railroad built a power plant in Long Island City between Second and Fifth Streets, from 50th to 51st Avenues. Completed in 1906, the Long Island City Power Plant consisted of two sections, one with coal-fired boilers producing steam, and the other with turbines to convert the steam to electricity. The power plant was built on a bed of over 9,000 piles, covered by a layer of concrete six feet thick.

STREETSCAPES: Long Island City Power Station; A 1906 Railroad Landmark on the Queens Shoreline