Steam Plant
Site: Southeast end of Westhampton Lake east of Tyler Hanes Commons
Begun: January 2, 1914
Completed: August, 1914
Architect: Ralph Adams Cram of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson; Carneal & Johnston (supervising architects)
Size: 8,410 square feet
Cost: $30,597
The Steam Plant was among the original buildings constructed on the Westhampton campus. According to Ralph Adams Cram’s original plan, the Steam Plant and the president’s house were both to have been built at the eastern end of Westhampton Lake. Cram’s plans for the president’s house did not materialize because of financial issues, but the Steam Plant was a necessity for the campus.
Work began on the Steam Plant on January 2, 1914, and the building was finished in August of that year. The fixtures were installed by W.B. Catlett Electric Company, and the plumbing by C. Manning Plumbing Company.
In 1970, the concrete area between the Steam Plant and what is now Tyler Hanes Commons was constructed to prevent erosion. At the time, there was a bridge at the site, which the Commons replaced.
The Steam Plant burns coal for fuel. Staff maintain and operate the facility 24 hours a day. It provides steam (at 75 psig) for the campus HVAC systems, as well as hot water for the buildings. More than one mile of tunnels house the steam pipes and condensate return system, as well as conduits for high voltage electrical lines and telecommunications cables. Originally the tunnels distributed high temperature water, but between 1955 and 1956, that system was converted to the current steam system. The steam returns to the Steam Plant for reuse. The Steam Plant does not produce the campus’s electricity, which is purchased from a power company.
Sources:
Ralph Adams Cram, the University of Richmond, and the Gothic Style Today by Edwin J. Slipek, Jr., p. 30
Reports from the Committee on New Buildings, 1914 (VBHS)
The Collegian, 2 October 1970; 20 October 1988; 18 April 2002
UR website