NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States … tower was demolished for scrap in 1917; only its 90’ octagonal stone and concrete foundation remains. ... center chimney, and

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

1

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register

Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being

documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only

categories and subcategories from the instructions.

1. Name of Property

Historic name: ________Wardenclyffe Laboratory ____DRAFT______

Other names/site number: ______________________________________

Name of related multiple property listing:

_____N/A______________________________________________________

(Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing

____________________________________________________________________________

2. Location

Street & number: __56 NY-25A____

City or town: __Shoreham__________ State: ____NY________ County: _Suffolk_____

Not For Publication: Vicinity:

____________________________________________________________________________

3. State/Federal Agency Certification

As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended,

I hereby certify that this x nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets

the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic

Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.

In my opinion, the property _x__ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I

recommend that this property be considered significant at the following

level(s) of significance:

_X_ national ___statewide ___local

Applicable National Register Criteria:

___A _X_B ___C ___D

Signature of certifying official/Title: Date

______________________________________________

State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.

Signature of commenting official: Date

Title : State or Federal agency/bureau

or Tribal Government

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

Wardenclyffe Laboratory DRAFT Suffolk, NY Name of Property County and State

Sections 1-6 page 2

______________________________________________________________________________

4. National Park Service Certification

I hereby certify that this property is:

entered in the National Register

determined eligible for the National Register

determined not eligible for the National Register

removed from the National Register

other (explain:) _____________________

______________________________________________________________________

Signature of the Keeper Date of Action

____________________________________________________________________________

5. Classification

Ownership of Property

(Check as many boxes as apply.)

Private:

Public – Local

Public – State

Public – Federal

Category of Property

(Check only one box.)

Building(s)

District

Site

Structure

Object

x

X



Sections 1-6 page 3

Number of Resources within Property

(Do not include previously listed resources in the count)

Contributing Noncontributing

______1______ _____8_______ buildings

____________ _____________ sites

______1_____ _____________ structures

_____________ _______1______ objects

______2_______ _______9_______ Total

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ___0_____

____________________________________________________________________________

6. Function or Use

Historic Functions

(Enter categories from instructions.)

_EDUCATION/Research Facility_

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

Current Functions


_VACANT/NOT IN USE_

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________



Section 7 page 4

_____________________________________________________________________________

7. Description

Architectural Classification


LATE 19TH AND 20TH

CENTURY REVIVAL

_Classical Revival____

___________________

____NO STYLE_ ____

___________________

___________________

___________________

Materials: (enter categories from instructions.)

Principal exterior materials of the property: ____BRICK____________________

Narrative Description

(Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe

contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that

briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style,

method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has

historic integrity.)

______________________________________________________________________________

Summary Paragraph

Wardenclyffe is located at 56 NY 25A in the hamlet of Shoreham within the Town of

Brookhaven in Suffolk County, on the north shore of Long Island. Located on east central Long

Island, Brookhaven is the only Town in Suffolk County that extends from the north shore to the

south shore. Shoreham is situated on the north shore on the northwestern edge of the town. State

Route 25A runs along the southern edge of the community and is home to most of its businesses

and institutions. The area between the north side of Route 25A and Long Island Sound is

characterized by wooded, suburban residential development. Wardenclyffe is located on a 16.43-

acre site at the intersection of Randall Road and Route 25A.

The focus of this nomination is world famous scientist Nikola Tesla’s laboratory at

Wardenclyffe, where he worked from 1902 and 1906. During Tesla’s period of occupation, the

property was an open, 200-acre site containing his classical revival lab building and a 187-foot

high transmission tower, both designed by architects McKim, Mead and White. Several decades



Section 7 page 5

after Tesla’s use of the site, it was subdivided and developed for other industrial uses. Today, the

lab survives intact amidst additions and non-historic buildings. The tower was destroyed soon

after Tesla lost the property, but its foundation remains. Both resources retain sufficient integrity

to represent Tesla’s important contributions to science.

The site is characterized by a combination of woods, lawns, and buildings, including Tesla’s

Wardenclyffe Laboratory, the ruin of his tower, and buildings remaining from its later use by

manufacturers Peerless Photo and the Agfa Corporation. The site is most visible from NY Route

25A, a heavily traveled road which forms the southern boundary of the site. From here,

passersby get a good view of Tesla’s Laboratory, which is set back toward the rear of the

property. A statue of Tesla erected in 2013 and the foundations of his great tower are further

south, closer to the road. Patches of woods and the siting of the remaining buildings obscure

most of them from public view. The most densely built part of the site is the northeast corner, the

location of Wardenclyffe Laboratory and the series of additions constructed after Tesla’s

ownership by Peerless and Agfa to transform the building into their production facility. The

foundation of Tesla’s tower and his statue are located in the southeast corner of the site. The

other primary buildings on the site, the Bauer House, Administration Building, and Industrial

Wastewater Treatment Facility, are located to the southwest of the laboratory. The northwest

corner of the site and area along Randall Road is heavily wooded.

______________________________________________________________________________

Narrative Description

During Nikola Tesla’s occupation of the site, from 1901 to 1915, Wardenclyffe consisted of an

approximately 200 acre-site of mostly open fields, a one and a half story classical revival

industrial brick building with an east-west oriented gabled roof (approximately 95’ by 95’),

which served as a laboratory, office, and power house, and a 187’ high transmission tower

located to its south. The laboratory and tower were both designed by the architectural firm

McKim, Mead & White. A spur of the Long Island Railroad formed the northern boundary of the

site and a railroad siding delivered coal to the eastern side of the building. The site had been used

for agriculture and was relatively flat and treeless in the immediate vicinity of the laboratory and

tower. The tower was demolished for scrap in 1917; only its 90’ octagonal stone and concrete

foundation remains.

Today, the laboratory and tower site are located on a parcel of approximately 16 acres. Land

outside of that parcel has been subdivided and developed and no longer retains integrity. A fence

secures the boundary of the site; a gate into the property is located on Randall Road. This is the

same entrance used during Tesla’s occupation of the site, when a road led directly to the center

of the laboratory’s west elevation. The edges of the site are now covered by wooded and lawn

areas, and asphalt-paved parking lots fill much of the central portion of the site. Between 1915,



Section 7 page 6

when Nikola Tesla deeded over the property to his creditors, and 1938, when the site was

purchased by Posi-Print to be redeveloped for use as a photograph emulsions manufactory, the

property was abandoned and the site began to fill-in with shrubs and small trees. The existing

plantings relate primarily to its mid and late-20th century development and include some

ornamental trees and shrubs.

Beginning with the renovations of 1938-39, the original laboratory building began to be

expanded with additions and buildings constructed to the north and west of the original

laboratory building. By 1984, when the last of these additions were constructed, nearly all of

these components were interconnected with the lab. The only freestanding buildings in the

vicinity of the original laboratory include the Boiler House which is located on the western side

of the laboratory and dates to circa 1939; a ca. 1940 Volatile Materials Storage Building, a

Maintenance Shed located on the east side of the building; and a ca. 1970 Air-handling building

located in an interior courtyard.

Other buildings on the site include the Bauer House, Administration Building, Industrial

Wastewater Treatment Facility, and Guard Shack. The Bauer House is located on the east side of

the property facing NY-25A. This house was constructed as a private residence circa 1920s on

land subdivided from the Tesla acreage and was purchased by Agfa Corp. in 1978. It was

subsequently used as an employee break room. The Administration Building is located just west

of the Bauer House but is oriented facing north onto a large asphalt-paved parking lot. The

Administration Building and parking lot were constructed between 1976 and 1980. The

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility is located northwest of the Administration Building.

The eastern section of the building was constructed in 1979 and the center and northern sections

were completed between 1980 and 1985. The Guard Shack is located at the Randall Road

entrance and is a non-historic building. The resource list is organized to describe the contributing

resources first and then the non-contributing resources in chronological order. All resources are

labeled and numbered on the site plan (See Section 9 and Figure 1).

Contributing Resources

1. Wardenclyffe Laboratory/Powerplant – 1 Contributing Building; built 1901-1902,

altered 1939-1984

The most important resource on the property and the subject of the nomination is the

Wardenclyffe Lab, which was the site of Nikola Tesla’s most advanced experiments in wireless

power transmission and is the only remaining laboratory associated with this important scientist.

Despite additions built onto the north, east, and west sides of the original Wardenclyffe

laboratory between 1939 and 1984, the laboratory survives with substantive integrity to represent



Section 7 page 7

Tesla’s period. The form and massing of the building survives and is visible. Two of the four

exterior brick walls can be seen from the exterior, and the others remain evident on the interior.

The vast majority of its original roof framing, cupola, center chimney, and a number of original

arched windows are intact. In places where the windows have been boarded up or filled in, the

arches marking the openings survive, including keystones. The original Neoclassical design,

characterized by a balanced and symmetrical organization of spaces on all four elevations, is

entirely readable.

While the interior has been subdivided with numerous wood partitions, the original interior floor

plan is still readable (See Figures 2 & 3; original walls are shown in red). In addition to changes

within the lab, a series of additions postdating Tesla’s ownership were added onto the exterior of

the building, all of which are interconnected on the interior. Although the enlarged resource is

counted as one contributing building, it is described as two separate sections for clarity; the

laboratory is described completely first, and a description of the additions follows.

Exterior

The original Tesla Laboratory is a one and a half story, roughly 9-bay by 9-bay brick building

with side-gabled roof. The original building is nearly square in plan, measuring 95’ on all sides.

A brick, hipped-roof dormer is located in the center of the roof; a tapered square chimney rises

from the dormer, extending to a height nearly double that of the building. An original ornate

cast-iron cresting for the chimney survives; it was recently removed from the building, restored,

and is in storage. The building mass is bilaterally symmetrical in plan, on both axes. The south

and north elevations were designed to be identical, as were those on the east and west. Each

elevation has a large, central arched doorway that is immediately flanked on either side by

individual rectangular window openings. This is flanked on both sides by four bays of equally

sized arched masonry window openings. The building retains this original pattern even though

some of the openings on exterior walls have been boarded up; however, many retain part or all of

their original windows behind the coverings.

The façade (south elevation) is the only completely exposed elevation. Although the arched

outlines and keystones remain, the first four masonry openings on the west half of the south

façade have been infilled with concrete block. The sills were removed from the second and third

window; and a metal frame door was installed at the second window bay. The original center

axis door opening has been infilled with brick and a sill to match the adjacent window sills but is

clearly identifiable as an entrance. The windows on the eastern half of the south façade remain

partially intact. The easternmost windows have existing window frames in the masonry

openings.



Section 7 page 8

The east and west elevations have gable ends and have a similar distribution of openings, bays,

and proportions. The center section of the gabled wall projects approximately one foot further

than the north and south sides of the same building elevation. The dominant arched doorway

opening was located on center in these walls. Immediately flanking it on both sides were

rectangular window openings; and farther beyond that, on both sides, were three sequential

arched window openings. These window openings are wider than their counterparts on the north

and south facades.

The original east elevation is partially buried beneath additions. The first two bays of original

arched windows remain partially intact. Window frames and sash remain in their original

masonry opening locations. The third arched opening is infilled with concrete block. A

rectangular doorway with a steel lintel partially fills the historic opening. The west elevation is

also enclosed within a later addition. A small portion of the wall was removed in 1939 to

accommodate industrial processing equipment. The seven remaining window openings have

been infilled with concrete block. A new center door opening with a steel header was created

slightly north of the original. A second masonry opening was created farther south to access an

interior corridor. The north elevation is entirely enclosed by additions. The original brick wall

remains; however, the eleven original window openings have been infilled with concrete block.

A new door opening with a steel lintel was installed between the original second and third

window openings. Much of the original rowlock headers, stone sills, and bluestone base molding

remain intact beneath layers of paint.

The dormer, which has a hipped roof that is perpendicular in plan to the main roof, remains

intact. The ridge beam of the dormer’s hipped roof is oriented north-south. The dormer has three

rectangular windows underneath the roofline on each of its north and south elevations. A large

tapered brick chimney projects from the center of the dormer. It was historically capped by a

cast-iron cresting. The cresting was recently removed and restored and is now in protective

storage awaiting reinstallation. Both the main roof and the dormer roof were originally built-up

roofs with a gravel surface. These were supported by beaded tongue and groove planks

supported by open web steel joists. The original roof sheathing and framing remain intact;

however, the original roofing has been replaced with modified bitumen roofing.

Interior

The floor plan in the c. 1901, Tesla-era configuration, was predominantly two large, rectangular

volumes in the north and south bays and two additional large volumes, lying on each side of the

center core – to the east and west. Each of these spaces was a large double-height, floor-to-

ceiling room. Principal bearing walls define the perimeter and the three dominant bays;

collectively, with additional interior bearing walls, they form a square core at the center of the



Section 7 page 9

plan. The square chimney is positioned at the center of the plan and is supported by these bearing

walls. Despite later subdivisions and alterations, the configuration of the original Tesla-era brick

bearing walls remains mostly intact to its original, c. 1901 design and construction.

The large, double-height spaces east and west of the center core accommodated Tesla’s need for

large laboratory and mechanical equipment. Tesla housed a very large boiler on the east. The

“Dynamo Room,” to the west appears to have been a slightly more formal, perhaps even a

reception space, with two bilaterally symmetrical grand stair cases, an array of impressive tools

and equipment, and an elegant spiral stair at center axis, which provided access to a tunnel

below. The Dynamo Room was on direct axis with the access road and was thus the “front door”

or primary entrance of the building. Each of these rooms was flooded with natural light from

skylights above and the large sliding doors located on the center axis of each elevation. The

southern bay served as a “laboratory” and display area according to historic photos and Tesla’s

deposition. It was, again, one large space which extended from the slab up to the roof. It was

flooded with light from windows on the east, south, and west sides. Additional central skylights

at east and west ends provided ample natural light. A nearly identical space, mirrored in plan,

occupied the entire north volume. This was Tesla’s “Machine Shop,” where he also had two

wood frame construction balconies.

Subsequent to Tesla’s occupation of the laboratory, many years went by before the next tenant

took ownership of the space. In 1938, the Peerless Photo Corporation took ownership of this

building, and it is evident that they immediately made changes to the interior, especially to the

second floor. Over the course of the 20th century, the laboratory’s open spaces were divided into

83 or more individual spaces within the framework of the original plan (See Figures 2 & 3).

These, in turn, were modified, renovated, and redecorated. The current status of the building

reflects approximately 60 years of occupation by photo processing companies.

On the first floor, in the south bay, the dominant axis and circulation route were completely

modified. A doorway was introduced to the second bay window, from the east. The zone in the

southeast corner became a series of smaller administrative offices. An entry vestibule, foyer, and

stair were introduced, and the space was divided into offices. A north-south oriented hall leads to

a dominant corridor, which lies east-west in plan, at the top of the south bay. The remainder of

this south bay, to the west, was formerly occupied by industrial processing spaces. It appears that

this interior space may have been modified several times over the course of the latter half of the

20th century.

A north-south oriented hallway lies in plan between the west center core interior bearing wall

and the chimney. It historically and presently connects the north and south bays. To the west of

this hallway are two masonry openings which lead to the former Dynamo Room. This space,



Section 7 page 10

lying west of the center core in plan, is now subdivided into a series of several larger and smaller

rooms. A circulation path connects through the former Dynamo Room.

The original north bay has also been subdivided into a series of larger and smaller spaces, most

of which seem to have served an industrial processing function. In the late 1930s, industrial

equipment was installed for the photo processing companies; some remains. A portion of the

northwest corner of the original masonry walls was removed to provide visual and physical

access to the processing space to the north and west. All original window and door openings on

the north façade have been infilled with concrete block. The industrial processing equipment

extends east toward the northeast corner of the original building footprint. There are a series of

modifications to the original east elevation. At the center bay, the original entrance to the Boiler

Room has been infilled. A new circulation opening was created within the third window bay

from the south, in the south bay. Most of the original window and door openings on the east

façade have been altered or removed. The only original windows on this elevation remain in the

first window bays to the south.

In the late 1930s, a second floor was defined in the open volumes and stairs were constructed to

access this space. Historic brick bearing walls define the upper floor, dividing it into three

principal volumes. The north and south bays’ floor levels are both slightly lower than that of the

center bay and core, where new floors were built to align with a small, Tesla-era second-story

section. Peerless constructed several offices and interior partitions on this upper floor. Physical

evidence suggests that the earliest office spaces (c. 1930s) were constructed in the southeast and

northeast corners. East side of the center bay, evidence from extant ceiling framing suggests

additional wall partitions which also divided early administrative spaces.

A great majority of the square footage of the second floor built by Peerless always served a

mechanical function. The south bay remains broad and open and has experienced minimal to no

intervention. Early partitions which divide this space from the hall (at north) and a wire-screen

partition divides it into two parts. Much of this mechanical “attic” space may have been part of

the early 1930s Peerless interior fit-out. The north bay is similarly vast and occupied by

mechanical and electrical equipment. The door which accesses the space from the center bay

(east) is c. 1940. There’s an attic partition wall, running north-south, just beyond that access door

which was likely installed c. 1960 to accommodate electrical boxes. It is likely Peerless began

some sort of industrial process function soon after they occupied the Tesla Laboratory in the

1930s. This partition may date to an early installation as well.

The center, interior bay is divided in half by the vertical core. An assembly of offices are located

east and west, of this core. These were installed piecemeal over the course of time to

accommodate administrative needs. The offices to the west and the office at center east were all



Section 7 page 11

installed at the same time and subsequent to the original 1930s renovation. These offices

underwent several interior renovations and reconfigurations, much of which may have happened

in the 1960s.

1A – 1P. Attached Additions; Built 1939 – circa 1984

Peerless Photo and its successor Agfa Corporation constructed numerous buildings and additions

from 1939 until approximately 1984; some were originally built as separate, freestanding

buildings and were subsumed into the larger factory building as a result of later additions. All of

these additions are internally connected to the Wardenclyffe Laboratory. Due to their

interconnections and complexity, these additions are counted along with the Tesla lab as one

building; they have been described separately here for clarity.

All of these additions, with the exception of the addition labeled “N” located on the west side of

the Laboratory, are one-story industrial and warehouse buildings with concrete slab-on-grade

floors, concrete block walls, and shallow pitched built-up or modified bitumen roofs. Roof

framing systems include both wood joists with wood decking, and steel bar joists with metal

decking. The addition labeled “D” has a bowed wood truss roof structure with wood purlins and

decking. Due to the light-sensitive nature of the photographic products being manufactured, there

are very few windows anywhere in the building. Loading docks with depressed approaches were



Section 7 page 12

located at additions labeled “C”, “G”, “N”, and “P.” Addition “N” was constructed between 1976

and 1980 and is a reinforced concrete frame structure with an exterior sheathed in insulated

vertical metal panels. The portion of the building closest to the Wardenclyffe Laboratory is two-

stories. The condition of the additions ranges from partial collapse to good.

2. Wardenclyffe Tower Foundations – Contributing Site; built 1903, demolished 1917

Perhaps the most iconic symbol of Wardenclyffe was Tesla’s transmission tower. Even though

only an octagonal ring of concrete and stone foundation remains visible, the image of the tower

is still used on signage, logos, and publications a century after its demolition. It was the imposing

tower that was at the heart of Tesla’s dream for Wardenclyffe. This was where messages were

intended to be sent across the Atlantic by harnessing the electrical currents of the earth.

The octagonal tower was designed by William D. Crow of the architectural firm McKim, Mead

& White to meet Nikola Tesla’s specifications. The tower, which had a wide, octagonal base,

was almost entirely made of wood. The walls of the tower angled inward, were characterized by

angled bracing, and were capped by a semicircular dome. Conductive materials, except in the

electrode cupola in the dome, were kept to a minimum. The final height of the tower came to

187’ instead of the intended 210,’ and the tower was located over a 120’ well. There were two

tunnels or trenches that ran from the powerhouse-laboratory to the base of the well; the well,

tunnels, and trenches are all likely extant, but are part of a brownfield site due to industrial

chemical dumping during the twentieth century. One contained compressed air and water mains

and the other contained electrical mains. These mains connected to 16 sections of large iron pipe

that extended from the bottom of the well to the electrode at the top of the tower. A spiral

stairway descended the well to the bottom. Unfortunately, after the structure was demolished, the

deep well below the structure was used a dumping ground for chemical waste products. The top

of the site inside the foundation walls is now capped and monitored as a brownfield site.

Non-Contributing Resources

3. Bauer House – Non-contributing Building; built circa 1920s, altered 1955, c. 1978

The only non-industrial building on the site is the ca. 1920s Bauer house. The house is located

southeast of Wardenclyffe Laboratory and is oriented facing south toward Route 25A. A circular

driveway is clearly evident in front of the house in early aerial photographs before Route 25A

was widened. The building was constructed on a parcel which had been subdivided from Tesla’s

original acreage and which is unrelated to his ownership of the property. It is named for Robert

Bauer, who purchased the house in the late 1920s after emigrating to the United States from

Germany in 1927. The building has been substantially modified, and is not individually

significant.



Section 7 page 13

The Bauer house is a 1-1/2 story, six-bay by two-bay side-gabled wood framed cottage covered

in shingle siding and resting on a concrete foundation. The central part of the building, which

features a one-and-a-half story, front-gabled porch, is slightly taller than the flanking sections.

While the windows have been boarded up, the house retains its fenestration and six-over-six

double-hung windows. The building has a full height basement except under the east wing,

which was originally a porch. The main basement had a separate exterior entrance near the

northeast corner at the rear of the house and has built-in booths. According to local lore, the

house served as a “speak-easy” during Prohibition. In 1955, the family added a dormer to the

north side of the house to create additional bedroom space, closed in an outside porch on the east

side to create two bedrooms, and made other alterations. Additional interior alterations were

made by the Agfa Corporation after it purchased the property from the Bauer family in 1978 and

subsequently utilized the building as an employee break room.

4. Volatile Material Storage Building – Non-contributing Building, built circa 1940s

The Volatile Material Storage Building is a free-standing building constructed circa 1940s and

located to the east of the Wardenclyffe Laboratory. It is a one-story building with a concrete

slab-on-grade floor, concrete block exterior walls with a painted flat stucco finish at the exterior,

and a wood-framed hipped roof with wood shingles. The building measures 16.1 feet east-west x

10.0 feet north-south and has a single interior space. There is a flush hollow-metal door on the

north façade and a small through-wall ventilation grill on the east and west facades.

“FLAMMABLE STORAGE” is painted on the exterior face of the east wall. There are no

interior finishes. The underside of the wood roof is exposed at the interior.

5. Maintenance Shed – Non-contributing Building, built circa 1940s

The Maintenance Shed is a free-standing building constructed circa 1940s and located to the east

of the Wardenclyffe Laboratory and north of the Volatile Material Storage Building. It is a one-

story wood-framed structure with a concrete slab-on-grade floor, vertical beaded board wood

cladding at the exterior, and a wood-framed hipped roof with asphalt shingles. The building

measures 26.2 feet east-west by 10.7 feet north-south. There are a pair of large swinging doors

on the west façade for removal of equipment and two five-panel wood doors, one on either end

of the south façade. Both door openings on the south facade have been covered with plywood.

The western door is severely damaged and the eastern door has been removed and is stored

inside. The interior of the shed has exposed wood framed walls. The wall studs are original but

rafters have been replaced.

6. Boiler House – Non-contributing Building, built between 1966-1970

The Boiler House is a free-standing building constructed between 1966 and 1970 and located in

an interior courtyard nearly surrounded by the Wardenclyffe Laboratory and subsequent

additions. It is a one-story structure with a concrete slab-on-grade floor, concrete block exterior



Section 7 page 14

walls, and a flat built-up roof over metal decking and steel bar joists. The building measures 34.0

feet east-west x 24.1 feet north-south and has a single interior space. There are two industrial

steel sash windows on the north and south elevations and a large sliding door on the west

elevation.

7. Air Handling Building – Non-contributing Building, built between 1966-1970

The Air Handling Building is a long narrow free-standing building constructed between 1966

and 1970 and located in an interior courtyard nearly surrounded by the Wardenclyffe Laboratory

and subsequent additions. It is a pre-fabricated metal building measuring 54.0 feet north-south by

10.1 feet east-west and served as mechanical space. The floor, walls, and ceiling/roof are all

constructed of insulated metal panels. Large ducts are routed from this building across the roofs

of adjacent buildings. The structure rests on steel beams which run north-south and rest on the

ground.

8. Administration Building – Non-contributing Building, built between 1976 and 1980

The Administration Building is a free-standing building constructed between 1976 and 1980 and

is located on the southern edge of the property facing an asphalt-paved parking lot to its north.

The building is located west of the Bauer House. The one-story building measures 154.2 feet

east-west by 67.2 feet north-south. It has a concrete slab-on-grade floor, split-faced concrete

block exterior walls, interior steel columns, and a built-up flat roof over metal decking and steel

bar joists. The exterior of the building is composed of red and grey split faced block. Individual

vertical fixed windows are separated by projecting grey pilasters which are flush with a

horizontal projecting “cornice” of grey split faced block above. Between the groups of windows

the exterior walls are red split faced block. There is a projecting entry canopy on the north façade

supported by two grey split faced block columns. The interior has a center bathroom core and a

glazed entry vestibule on the north elevation. Interior office partitions and finishes have been

removed.

9. Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility – Non-contributing Building, built 1979,

enlarged between 1980 and 1985

The Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility is comprised of three sections. The southern

section was constructed in 1979 and measures 59.2 feet east-west x 64.0 feet north-south. The

floor is a concrete slab-on-grade with integrally poured concrete side walls which rise

approximately three feet. Above this height a steel frame supports a metal deck roof. The

exterior walls are vertical metal panels except where it abuts the center section of the building

which is concrete block. The southern section is a single large volume with large tanks and

elevated steel grate walkways.



Section 7 page 15

The center and northern sections of the building, which were constructed between 1980 and

1985, measure 50.3 feet east-west x 101.2 feet north-south. The center section of the building has

a lower roof than the northern and southern section and serves as a service vehicle garage and

maintenance shop. The center section has a concrete slab-on-grade floor, concrete block walls,

and a flat built-up roof on metal decking supported by steel bar joists. There is an access door

and an overhead vehicle door in the west façade. At the interior, there is an elevated steel grate

mezzanine that provides access to the southern section of the building. The northern section of

the building is constructed similar to the southern section except that the exterior metal panels go

to the floor slab. There is also an overhead door in the west façade for movement of equipment.

The large volume contains a number of large fiberglass tanks and similar to the southern section,

has elevated steel grate walkways.

10. Guard Shack – Non-contributing Building, ca. 1960, renovated 2013

The existing guard shack is a one-story, one-bay by one-bay (6.5 feet by 6.5 feet) frame building

located on the north side of the access drive from Randall Road. The exterior of the building is

sheathed with cedar shingles and the structure has a hipped roof with a deep overhang and

rounded brackets. Rectangular plate glass windows are located in the east and south elevations. It

sits on an elevated concrete slab-on-grade with concrete steps leading to an access door in the

west elevation.

11. Tesla Statue – Non-contributing Object, 2013

The Tesla Statue, which was donated by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and created

by sculptor Prof. Nikola Koka Jankovic, is located near the southern border of the property and

surrounded by a square fence. The granite base of the statue is square and includes inscriptions.

A life-size granite statue of Tesla, which starts mid-leg and depicts him holding two gears that

interlock, rests on the base.



Section 8 page 16

________________________________________________________________

7. Statement of Significance

Applicable National Register Criteria

(Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register

listing.)

A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the

broad patterns of our history.

B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of

construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values,

or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack

individual distinction.

D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or

history.

Criteria Considerations

(Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)

A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes

B. Removed from its original location

C. A birthplace or grave

D. A cemetery

E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure

F. A commemorative property

G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years

X



Section 8 page 17

Areas of Significance


__ENGINEERING____

__SCIENCE_________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

___________________

Period of Significance

__1901 - 1915_______

___________________

___________________

Significant Dates

____1902-1906 ______

___________________

___________________

Significant Person

(Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.)

_ TESLA, NIKOLA __

___________________

___________________

Cultural Affiliation

___________________

___________________

___________________

Architect/Builder

McKIM, MEAD & WHITE

WILLIAM D. CROW

___________________



Sections 9-end page 18

Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes

level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any

applicable criteria considerations.)

Wardenclyffe Laboratory is significant under National Register Criterion B in the areas of

science and engineering for its association with famous inventor and visionary Nikola Tesla

(1856 – 1943). Tesla, one of the most important scientists and inventors of the modern age,

worked at this lab between 1902 and 1906, and it was the site of his most advanced experiments

in wireless power transmission. The laboratory and the ruins of a tower, both of which were

designed to Tesla’s specifications by American architects McKim, Mead and White, was Tesla’s

last laboratory; they are the only remaining historic resources associated with the inventor and

his work (see Appendix A). Born in Croatia, Tesla displayed promise in his early education and

work in technology. After inventing new equipment and rising to the head of Budapest’s

telephone exchange, Tesla began working for the Edison Company in Paris. In 1884, Tesla

moved to the United States to work for Edison directly. Within the next two decades, Tesla,

working with Westinghouse and independently as an inventor, made a mark on the scientific

community and in the public imagination. His experiments with electricity resulted in the

invention of the Alternating Current (AC) that we use today. He was a pioneer in X-ray

technology, remote control, and wireless communication. Wardenclyffe, Tesla’s laboratory and

office from 1902 to 1906, represents the apex of Tesla’s career, during which he developed and

promoted his idea for a “World Wireless System” which would transmit energy and

telecommunications without wires. Unfortunately, his failure to perfect his ideas for wireless

technology fast enough, as well as the success of Marconi’s telegraph system, led his backers to

abandon him and led to his emotional and financial ruin. In 1915, he lost the heavily mortgaged

property in his attempts to cover his debts. While Tesla continued to come up with new ideas, he

was never able to never to rehabilitate his reputation and finances to secure another laboratory.

Despite later twentieth century additions and alterations to the building, the laboratory is

identifiable and understandable to Tesla’s period and remains a testament to the life, work and

genius of Nikola Tesla and his impact on the international scientific community.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of

significance.)

Nikola Tesla’s Early Life & Career

Born at midnight between July 9 and 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia, Nikola Tesla came into the

world, according to legend, during a lightning storm.1 Tesla was the fourth of five children born

1 Christopher Cooper, Truth About Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of Innovation (New York:

Race Point Publishing, 2015), 22.




to Serbian Orthodox priest Milutin Tesla and his wife, Djuka Mandic.2 During that time in

Smiljan, illiteracy was more common than not and most occupational opportunities were limited

to agriculture, the army, or the church.3 However in primary school, Tesla was a gifted scholar.

The family moved a few miles to Gospic, where his father took a religious teaching position at

what we would today consider a junior high school. There, Nikola attended as a student and

immediately started experimenting with electricity, studying batteries and induction coils. After

seeing a picture of Niagara Falls, he announced he would one day harness it for energy.4

He continued his studies at a higher school in Karlstadt (Karlocav), Croatia, where an influential

physics professor encouraged him to continue his studies in electrical engineering. After Nikola

nearly died from cholera, his father let Nikola pursue engineering instead of insisting he follow

in his footsteps and join the priesthood. Tesla then enrolled in the Austria Polytechnic School in

Graz, Austria, in 1875 at the age of 19. There he began to toy with the idea of an alternating

current under a German professor named Poeschl, who thought Tesla had great promise.

However, his scholarship ended and he had to leave school. Due to his father’s recent death,

Tesla had to immediately begin looking for work to support himself.5

In 1880, Alexander Graham Bell’s newly invented telephone was becoming popular in Europe.

Tesla was informed that a central telephone station was to be installed in Budapest, which would

be spearheaded by friends of the Tesla family, the Puskas Brothers. Starting at an entry level

position, he quickly worked his way up in position by inventing improvements to the station’s

equipment, including a telephone amplifier. Notably, at the age of 25 he was put in charge of the

telephone exchange.6 In 1881, the station was sold and the Puskas brothers recommended that

Tesla find a position at the Continental Edison Company in Paris, a French company that made

dynamos and motors under Thomas Edison’s patents. Tesla worked there from 1881 to 1883,

troubleshooting problems with power plants in France and Germany. There he met Charles

Batchelor, a close associate of famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who helped Tesla obtain a

position working for Edison. At age 28, with only a few coins in his pocket, Tesla arrived in

New York City in June of 1884.7

Tesla began working for Edison in 1884 and quickly won Edison’s confidence when he

successfully repaired a broken set of dynamos on Henry Villard’s ocean liner, the Oregon. Tesla

2 The youngest child, Marica, was mother of Sava Kasonovic, the first Yugoslavian ambassador to the United States

and the man responsible for creating the Tesla Museum in Belgrade. 3 Margaret Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time (New York: Touchstone, 2001), 25. 4 Marc J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 2001),

13. 5 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 40. 6 John Joseph O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: Cosimo Classics, 2006), 53. 7 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 49.




frequently worked 16-hour days for Edison, repairing machines and generators, as well as

working on patents for arc lamps, regulators and dynamos.8 Tesla was confident that he could

greatly improve Edison’s Direct Current dynamos. Edison, doubtful but intrigued, allowed him

to work on the project. It took him almost a year, but Tesla achieved his goal. Elated, Tesla asked

Edison for the $50,000 he had promised him if he succeeded. However, Edison refused, claiming

that they had had no such agreement and that Tesla didn’t understand American humor.9

Angered, Tesla resigned.

In March of 1885, Tesla met with patent attorneys who helped him apply for his first patent (no.

335,786), an improved design of the arc lamp which created light that did not flicker.10 These

patents brought him the attention of two investors, B.A. Vail and Robert Lane, who formed a

lighting and manufacturing company in Tesla’s name, the Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing

Company. However, once Tesla had completed his patent work on arc lighting, which belonged

to the company, Vail and Lane disassociated themselves with the company to start their own

company focusing on the distribution of arc lights. Tesla, who didn’t own the patent and was

paid in stock to a company that no longer existed, became bankrupt.11

1886 and 1887 were very difficult years for Tesla, who was forced to find work day to day as a

laborer in lower Manhattan, mostly digging ditches for the installation of cables connecting the

headquarters of the Western Union Telegraph Company with the stock and commodity

exchanges.12 In spring of 1887 he met Alfred S. Brown, who worked for Western Union

Telegraph and also held several arc lamp patents and was very interested in Tesla’s ideas of

alternating current (AC). Joined by Charles F. Peck, a lawyer from New Jersey, the three men

started a new company called the Tesla Electric Company. With financing from John C. Moore,

who was connected to J.P. Morgan, they started a laboratory at 89 Liberty Street in Manhattan.

Here Tesla was free to work as he wished on his AC machinery. Within six months Tesla had

developed the AC induction motor and was immediately awarded forty patents for the

invention.13 Together they began manufacturing the first AC induction motors. Impressed by the

news, Electrical World editor T.C. Martin stopped by the lab and convinced Tesla to write an

article, his first publication, on the invention.14

8 Seifer, Wizard, 37. 9 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 57. 10 Seifer, Wizard, 40. 11 Seifer, Wizard, 41. 12 W. Bernard Carlson, “Places of Invention: Nikola Tesla's Life in New York,” The Gotham Center for New York

City History. https://www.gothamcenter.org 13 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 62. 14 Seifer, Wizard, 43.




With news of these patents circulating Wall Street, Tesla was gaining recognition and attention.

The businessman, inventor, and electricity enthusiast, George Westinghouse became aware of

Tesla and met with him to offer him a consulting job at the Westinghouse headquarters in

Pittsburgh, PA. Tesla accepted and spent several months there. During that time, he developed

the sixty cycle (or 60 hertz) induction motor, which is still the standard for alternating current in

the United States today.15 On May 16, 1888, Tesla gave his first lecture to the American Institute

of Electrical Engineers. Between 1891 and 1892, he gave four more popular lectures in America

and Europe. By the end of 1892, Tesla had begun to gain celebrity status as a famous scientist.

The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago helped to boost the fortunes of both

Westinghouse and Tesla, who had been selected to light the buildings and grounds. In addition,

Tesla also had his own exhibition at the World Fair under the Westinghouse banner. Electricity

was one of the main attractions of the fair, and millions flocked to Electricity Hall. One of

Tesla’s displays produced the effect of lightning discharge accompanied with the familiar sound

of thunder. It was one of the most novel attractions at the fair and was good at attracting visitors,

as the noise could be heard throughout Electricity Hall.16 Tesla returned to New York from

Chicago exhausted but also famous. Engineering magazines called him “the New Edison.”17

Following the exhibition, Tesla focused on his new interests in radio and wireless technology in

his New York City laboratory. At this time, Tesla began living at the Waldorf Astoria, where he

was accepted into the social set of New York’s elite and Wall Street heavyweights who would

lounge and socialize there after work. This was an important group for Tesla, who was always on

the search for wealthy investors. Disaster stuck on March 13, 1895, when his laboratory caught

fire and was destroyed. This set the inventor back on his work with radio, wireless technology,

and x-rays.18

Tesla acquired a new laboratory space at 46 East Houston Street in New York in 1896; here he

developed the technology of x-rays and his famous Tesla Coil. Tesla wrote to his patent lawyer

that his coils where producing 4,000,000 volts with sparks jumping from wall to wall and that his

laboratory in crowded Manhattan wasn’t safe for him or the public. The inventor needed a

secluded space to continue his experiments in wireless electricity. His patent attorney, Leonard

E. Curtis, had associations with the Colorado Springs Electric Company and sent Tesla there to

find a safe secluded place to continue his work. With the donations of wealthy friends and

15 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 64. 16 “Mr. Tesla’s Personal Exhibit at the World’s Fair,” Electrical Engineer, November 29, 1893, 466-68. 17 Seifer, Wizard, 122. 18 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 129.




patrons, including Col. John Jacob Astor, Tesla designed and built a modest laboratory on the

prairie east of Colorado Springs.19

Planning Wardenclyffe

After spending eight months at his laboratory in Colorado Springs, the 43-year-old celebrity

inventor returned to New York City in 1900. While in Colorado, Nikola Tesla produced point-to-

point electrical discharge by creating sparks over 100 feet in length.20 Armed with photos of

manufactured lightning, a new wireless telegraphy invention, and several new patents, Tesla

began searching for new investors to take his findings in Colorado to the next level, which he

would later call a “World Wireless System.” 21 Tesla moved back into the Waldorf Astoria and

continued his work at his laboratory at 46 E. Houston Street in downtown Manhattan. However,

to advance on his recent experiments and create the World System, he needed to build a

transmission tower.

The World System concept resulted from the culmination of several of Tesla’s discoveries. He

proposed that telecommunications and electric energy could be transmitted throughout the world

wirelessly. He claimed this would provide point-to-point telecommunication as well as the

transmission of electric energy without wires on a global scale.22 This would be possible with the

construction of many Wardenclyffe-type towers around the world located outside major cities

that would transmit and receive information and energy through the ground and from the

atmosphere.23 While describing what his new laboratory would do and the impact that the

“World System” would have on our lives and the planet, the visionary described a future that

seemed to resemble the internet:

As soon as completed, it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate

instructions, and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere,”

Tesla said at the time. “He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone

subscriber on the globe, without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An

inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on

sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of

science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however

distant. In the same manner any picture, character, drawing or print can be transferred from

19 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 170. 20 Leland Anderson, “Wardenclyffe - A Forfeited Dream,” Long Island Forum, Aug/Sept 1968. 21 Nikola Tesla, Means for increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations, Patent 685,012 filed March 21, 1900,

and issued October 22, 1901; Nikola Tesla, Method of insulating electric conductors, Patent 655,838 filed June

15, 1900, and issued August 14, 1900; Julia Hawthorne,” Contemporary Celebrities: Nikola Tesla,”

Philadelphia North American, March 1900. 22 Nikola Tesla, “The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires,” Electrical World, March 5, 1904. 23 Seifer, Wizard, 472.




one to another place. Millions of such instruments can be operated from but one plant of this

kind.24

Tesla’s article in Century magazine of June 1900, “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy,”

suggested that the philosophical problems of mankind could be solved by harnessing power from

the sun, wind, and water.25 This article included amazing photos from Colorado of electricity

seemingly dancing around him.26 The article brought Tesla the controversy and attention he

needed for the ambitious project of building the first tower of the World Wireless System outside

of New York City. Its publication, which gained the attention of New York’s elite, including J.

Pierpont Morgan, proved to be a first step in funding his new laboratory.

J. Pierpont Morgan, the largest financier of the time, was excited by the vision of the future Tesla

described in his Century article. Morgan wasn’t new to the innovations of electricity; he had

arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to

form General Electric. When the two met, Tesla described a plan for all wavelength channels to

be broadcast from a single station. If Tesla were to succeed, Morgan would have a monopoly on

radio broadcasting.27 Morgan gave Tesla $150,000, or over $4.1 million today, to build a

transatlantic telegraphic transmission plant.28 Morgan, always a businessman, asked Tesla to sign

over 51 percent interest in his radio patents as security for the loan.29

With Morgan’s investment in hand, Tesla began seeking a location for his new lab. Tesla

envisioned not just a quiet isolated place for him to work on his experiments but also a power-

and-broadcasting station which would employ thousands of people, a “Radio City,” which would

be the center of wireless broadcasting to the world through his World System.30 As before, Tesla

relied on his social connections as he began exploring his options. Charles R. Flint, a real estate

mogul and high-profile associate of Tesla, introduced Tesla to James S. Warden of the North

Shore Industrial Company in Suffolk County. Warden, an Ohio banker and prospective

developer, had purchased over 2,000 acres of land in Brookhaven on Long Island’s north shore,

roughly 65 miles from Brooklyn, to build a resort community which he eponymously named

Wardenclyffe-On-Sound.

24 Gilbert King, “The Rise and Fall of Nikola Tesla and his Tower,” Smithsonian Magazine, February 4, 2013.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-rise-and-fall-of-nikola-tesla-and-his-tower-11074324/ 25 Nikola Tesla, “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy,” Century, June 1900. 26 The photo was a fake, a double-exposure trick, where one photo was of the electricity sparks in an empty room

and the other of Tesla sitting in a chair with the device off. The photographer combined the two photos into one. 27 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 198. 28 Nikola Tesla to J. Pierpont Morgan, November 26, 1900, Microfilm letter, Library of Congress. 29 J. Pierpont Morgan to Nikola Tesla, February 15, 1901, Microfilm letter, Library of Congress. 30 O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, 233.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-rise-and-fall-of-nikola-tesla-and-his-tower-11074324/




The town of Brookhaven was originally settled by New Englander colonists, mostly from

Connecticut, in the 1650s. The portion that would eventually become Wardenclyffe (and

Shoreham) was made up of two rural areas, Woodville and “The Ridge,” nestled between the

two villages of Miller’s Place (now Miller Place) and Wading River. In the 1882 History of

Suffolk County, New York, the area earned only two sentences describing the lands eastward of

Miller’s Place as “a thinly settled farming district which extends to the east line of the town at

Wading River. This section comprehends the localities of Rocky Point and Woodville, extending

about seven miles.”31 Woodville was named after Richard Woodhull who negotiated a deed for

the area from Native Americans. By the late 1880s, it consisted of a few small cabins on the

beach but mostly orchards and farmland along both sides of Woodville Road, which today is the

village of Shoreham. The southern portion that would make up Wardenclyffe was called “The

Ridge” (now the hamlet of Ridge), which was farmland owned mostly by the Randall family for

over 150 years.32

In 1893, the proposed extension of the Long Island Railroad past Port Jefferson to Wading River

led James Warden to speculatively purchase 2,635 acres, most from Charles Randall, of the

above-mentioned farmland of Woodville and Ridge,. The acreage stretched southernly from the

intersection of the Long Island Railroad line and Ridge Road, zigzagging southeast around the

farms of Charles P. Randall and John G. Randall all the way down to Middle Country Road, then

returned in a straight line back north to the proposed Long Island Railroad. 33 In 1895, the Long

Island Railroad did extend service past Port Jefferson to Wading River. It did not include a

station at Wardenclyffe until 1900.34 Once the plans to add the station were confirmed, the Oak

Ridge company began construction on a development along the shore. By 1902, both Shoreham

and Wardenclyffe appear as names for the community on the map.35

Warden was interested in the potential future of an industrial center where 2,000-2,500 Tesla

employees would build their homes. Tesla acquired 200 acres of remote land from Warden with

the stipulation that he would purchase another 400 acres in the near future.36 The 200 acres were

located in the northwest corner of the North Shore Development Co’s land close to the train

station. The property started at the intersection of Randall Road and North Country Road,

running east along the Southern End of the Long Island Railroad for 2250,’ then south 4000’ in a

straight line to a corner of the land of then farmer George E. Hageman, then west in a line

31 William S. Pelletreau, History of Suffolk County, New York (New York: Munsell & Co), 196. 32 Ibid., 197. 33 E. Belcher Hyde, “Plate 006 Brookhaven and Riverhead,” in Atlas of Suffolk County, Long Island (Brooklyn: E.

Belcher Hyde, 1902). 34 The line east of Port Jefferson was abandoned in 1938 and the station was torn down in 1950. The right-of-way is

now owned by the Long Island Power Authority and used for power lines. 35 E. Belcher Hyde, “Plate 006 Brookhaven and Riverhead,” in Atlas of Suffolk County, Long Island (Brooklyn: E.

Belcher Hyde, 1902). 36 “Mr. Tesla at Wardenclyffe, L.I.,” Electric World and Engineer 38 (September 1901).




parallel to the northerly line back to Randall Road, following Randall Road north back to the

starting point.

Building Wardenclyffe

Tesla wanted to achieve his dream of “World Wireless System,” a worldwide network of

wireless communication and wireless electricity. To do this he needed to build a massive

telecommunication tower, visually similar to a radio tower, with a small powerplant to power it

and double as his laboratory for experimentation. At the start of 1901, Tesla found himself

perfectly suited to do it with financing from Morgan, 200 acres from Warden adjacent to a

railroad station, and a friend in Stanford White.

Stanford White, of the celebrated architecture firm McKim, Mead, & White, was also excited by

Tesla’s Century article. As they were leading figures in their respective fields, the two men

crossed paths frequently. In 1891, the two first met through Edward Dean Adams at Madison

Square Garden. Adams was courting both men, White for architectural design and Tesla for

electrical equipment planning, to work on the Adams powerplant at Niagara Falls. The two men

met again at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago and frequently at the residence of mutual

friend Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century. White eventually nominated Tesla for

membership at the Players Club in New York.37

Tesla approached Stanford White to design and prepare the drawings for his new laboratory and

powerhouse. The dual-function building would provide space for Tesla’s experiments and power

the transmission tower. Letters between Tesla and White shed light into the development of the

project. By April 26, 1901, White had quoted the powerhouse portion of the project to be built

for $14,000 (roughly $390k today).38 Later that spring, cost estimates came in from Mertz’s Sons

Construction at $15,700 and Sturgis & Hill Co. at $13,400. On June 1, 1901, White notified

Tesla of the estimates before leaving for Canada. White worked on the Wardenclyffe project for

free due to his friendship with Tesla. Tesla was only billed for the draftsman’s time.39 He told

Tesla that any further questions should be brought to Mr. Crow, an associate.40 Sturgis & Hill

were selected as the builders for the brick 95’ x 95’ laboratory and powerhouse, the primary

building at the site.

William D. Crow of East Orange, New Jersey, an architect working for McKim, Mead, & White,

later became a well-known designer of hospitals and institutional buildings.41 White left the

37 Seifer, Wizard, 159. 38 Stanford White to Nikola Tesla, April 26, 1901, Microfilm letter, Library of Congress. 39 McKim, Mead, & White, Ledgers, 1900 – 1902, Library of Congress. 40 Stanford White to Nikola Tesla, June 1, 1901, Microfilm letter, Library of Congress. 41 In 1907, Crow and Luther Lewis left McKim, Mead, & White to start a new architecture firm with Hermon F.

Wick called Crow, Lewis & Wick Architects. Crow, Lewis, & Wick designed many large hospital complexes in




design of the tower to Mr. Crow, which was required to be made entirely of wood with limited

use of bolts and able to support a giant copper electrode 100 feet in diameter with a tubular

diameter of twenty feet at its peak.42 According to W.D. Crow’s notes on the project, the

architect had no knowledge of the electrical side of the project, but was told to keep conductive

materials to a minimum. In addition, W.D. Crow’s notes also reflect that he was the primary

designer for Wardenclyffe’s laboratory and powerhouse.43

Construction supplies and equipment were brought in by rail and construction of the laboratory

moved at a quick pace. Laboratory machinery from Westinghouse also arrived by train.

Construction on the one-and-a-half story brick laboratory and powerhouse started in the summer

of 1901 and was completed in February of 1902.44

While the construction of the laboratory was underway, Tesla’s focus turned to the design of the

massive tower. Though we don’t know what the inventor’s original calculations were for the

intended height of the tower, we do know that it was planned to be much higher than what was

finally constructed. Without White’s approval, Tesla met with the American Bridge Company

regarding the construction of the cupola of the tower as he believed that they were the best

equipped to build the copper electrode cupola.45 Soon after, Tesla received a quote from White to

build the tower which, much to his dismay, was as shocking as the assassination of President

McKinley.

My dear Stanford: -

I have not been half as dumfounded by the news of the shooting of the President as I

have by the estimates submitted to you, which, together with your kind letter of yesterday, I

received last night. One thing is certain: we cannot build that tower as outlined.46

To stay within budget, Tesla was forced to recalculate and shorten the overall height of the

tower. He concluded that a tower closer to 200’ with a roof composed of a single 20-meter

diameter platform with spherical bodies of large curvature on the rim would work just fine.47

While construction was underway, Tesla often stayed at a cottage opposite the Wardenclyffe Inn,

overlooking the beach and Long Island Sound.48

the New York and New Jersey area, including the Home for the Incurables (now St. Barnabas Hospital) in the

Bronx, NY. 42 O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, 234. 43 William D. Crow, “Notes on Tesla Tower,” August 20, 1943, Library of Congress. 44 “Inventor Tesla’s Plant Nearing Completion,” Brooklyn Eagle, February 7, 1902. 45 Nikola Tesla to Stanford White, August 28, 1901 & August 30, 1901, Microfilm letter, Library of Congress. 46 Nikola Tesla to Stanford White, September 13, 1901, Microfilm letter, Library of Congress. 47 Leland Anderson, “Rare notes from Tesla at Wardenclyffe,” Electric Spacecraft Journal, April, 1997, 5. 48 “Mr. Tesla at Wardenclyffe, L.I.” Electric World and Engineer, Vol. 38 No. 13, September 1901, 510.




The story of Wardenclyffe is ultimately a tragic one. While its construction was underway, Tesla

received his first blow to the project. On Dec 12, 1901, competing inventor Guglielmo Marconi

sent the first wireless transmission across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to Newfoundland,

Canada. Marconi achieved this without anything similar to the tower and powerhouse that Tesla

was building, surprising many, including Tesla’s investors. Tesla was discouraged and accused

Marconi of violating several of his radio patents, but he continued building his tower, which, in

early 1902, had begun to gradually rise from the tree line of the North Shore of Long Island.49

A February 7, 1902 Brooklyn Eagle article reports on the progress of the venture.

The power house is completed and the foundations of the big tower have been laid, though the

cold weather somewhat retarded the masonry work. The working room, or tower, which will

be the foundation for Mr. Tesla’s across-the-world flashes, will be octagonal in shape and will

be 210 feet high, 100 feet in diameter at the base, narrowing down to 80 feet in diameter at the

top. It will be constructed chiefly of wood, through the builders say that fifty tons of iron and

steel and 60,000 bolts of various sizes are used in its construction.50

The final height of the tower came to 187’ instead of 210.’ A 120’ well was dug beneath its base;

the depth was necessary to reach groundwater. There were two tunnels or trenches that ran from

the powerhouse-laboratory to the base of the well. One contained compressed air and water

mains and the other contained electrical mains. These mains connected to 16 sections of large

iron pipe that extended from the bottom of the well to the electrode at the top of the tower. A

spiral stairway descended the well to the bottom.51

At Wardenclyffe

On June 4, 1902, Tesla placed an advertisement in Electricity Magazine that all further

correspondence to him should be sent to his Wardenclyffe office, signaling the completion of the

lab and tower.52 Security on the grounds was tight; only Tesla’s approximately half dozen

assistants and workers were permitted. Tesla worked in quiet isolation. The public and

newspapers speculated as to what exactly Tesla was up to, especially as the curious tower could

be seen from miles away. The inventor was vague and unwilling to go into specifics. In the

spring of 1903, Tesla finally gave a statement to the New York papers. In addition to specifying

what the tower was for and what he was doing at Wardenclyffe, he predicted the modern mobile

phone:

The wireless telegraphy plants you may have seen are but networks of flimsy wire. We are not

doing anything of that sort here at Wardenclyffe. We are building for the future. It will be

49 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 202. 50 “Inventor Tesla’s Plant Nearing Completion,” Brooklyn Eagle, February 22, 1902. 51 From Tesla’s testimony during foreclosure hearings for the Wardenclyffe property. 52 “Under the Searchlight: Notes and Comments on Various Topics,” Electricity June 4, 1902.




some time before our preparations are complete, but when we are ready we will be able to

accomplish what we desire. We shall not be handling a plaything. It will be something for

business. I do not believe that messages can be transmitted without wires for more than 50 or

60 miles without the use of the principles which I have patented throughout the civilized

countries of the world. By the use of my system you will be able to put an instrument in your

house and talk to anyone who has a similar apparatus anywhere in the country without any

metallic or artificial connection.53

The primary intent for the Wardenclyffe laboratory and tower was to first demonstrate the radio-

broadcasting phase of Tesla’s plan for a "World System," which he was issued several patents

for. These included patent No. 685,012, means for increasing the intensity of electrical

oscillations by use of liquefied air; 655,838, method of insulating electrical conductors; 787,412,

art of transmitting electrical energy through the natural medium; 723,188, method of signaling;

725,605, system of signaling; 685,957, apparatus for utilization of radiant energy; and 1,119,732,

apparatus for transmitting electrical energy.54 Although the inventor and his workers performed

many experiments at Wardenclyffe, it is clear that the majority of their work regarded wireless

communications, wireless electricity, and his World System.

Tesla worked tirelessly on his experiments and inventions, sometimes working for days without

sleep. In addition to his “World System” he and his crew worked on other experiments. He

launched a wireless radio-controlled model torpedo in the sound and also experimented with the

power of high pressured water streams. 55 However, by spring of 1903, Tesla was running out of

funds and started to face serious financial problems. He returned to New York to look for further

investment, first from J.P. Morgan. Morgan was focused on investments with railroad

centralization and other industrial ventures and did not respond to Tesla’s letters requesting

additional funding. On July 3, 1903, a desperate Tesla sent another letter to Morgan, this time

telling the financer that his tower was not just for sending radio signals but also to transmit

power wirelessly.56 Eleven days later Morgan finally responded “Dear Sir: I have received your

letter…and in reply would say that I should not feel disposed at present to make any further

advances.”57

The following day, back at Wardenclyffe, Tesla responded to J.P. Morgan’s letter in his own

way, by displaying the power of his operational tower, although it was unfinished and ostensibly

still under construction. The skeleton framework of the tower and electrode cupola had been

53 “What Mr. Tesla is Said to Have Said,” Western Electrician, March 14, 1903, 211. 54 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 208. 55 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 203; O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, 236. 56 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 207. 57 Seifer, Wizard, 293.




completed but the copper sheeting was never applied to the outside.58 Area newspapers reported

on the strange electrical displays locals were witnessing at night:

…from the tall tower and poles in the grounds where Nicola Tesla is conducting his

experiments in wireless telegraphy and telephony. All sorts of lightning were flashed from

the tall tower and poles last night. For a time the air filled with blinding streaks of electricity

which seemed to shoot off into the darkness on some mysterious errand. The display

continued until after midnight.59

This continued for several nights. Tesla, rejected by Morgan, was likely looking for media

attention as he began embarking on another fundraising campaign. Reporters flocked to the lab

the following morning but the workers declined to say a word. Tesla himself was mysterious

about the nightly display of lightning. However, to possibly tease those captivated by the stories

coming from Wardenclyffe, he gave a quote to the New York Sun: “… The people about there,

had they been awake instead of asleep, at other times would have seen even stranger things.

Someday, but not at this time, I shall make an announcement of something that I never once

dreamed of.”60

With the spectacle circling the New York papers, Tesla, deeply in debt and unable to afford

additional coal for the tower, returned to New York City to pursue additional investors.

However, the rapidly spreading rumors that Morgan had backed out of the project led others to

shy away. Adding to his financial problems, Colorado Springs Electric Company sued Tesla for

nonpayment of electricity furnished to the experimental station at Colorado Springs and the City

of Colorado Springs sued him for nonpayment of water bills. On top of this, the caretaker of the

station also sued the inventor for unpaid wages due to him. Desperate, Tesla managed to

temporarily get by. He scrapped and sold the Colorado Springs station, which gave him the

ability to pay his legal debts and other outstanding bills. In January of 1904, on the suggestion of

his longtime assistant, accountant, and confidant George Scherff, Tesla announced to the world

he was available for consulting work.61

Among the most pressing of Tesla’s debts were his overdue payments for living at the luxurious

Waldorf Astoria Hotel in midtown Manhattan. While Wardenclyffe was operational, the inventor

continued to live at the Waldorf Astoria and commuted to Wardenclyffe by train. To keep his

room and the hotel lawyers at bay, on April 27, 1904, Tesla mortgaged $7,270 of the

Wardenclyffe property to George C. Boldt, the owner of the hotel.62

58 O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, 214. 59 “Tesla’s Flashes Startling,” The New York Sun, July 17, 1903. 60 “Tesla’s Flashes Startling,” The New York Sun, July 17, 1903. 61 Nikola Tesla, facsimile, Electrical World & Engineer 43, February 6th, 1904. 62 Suffolk County, New York, Mortgage Liber 374: 124.




On May 9, 1905 Tesla lost yet another lawsuit, this time to the plaintiff, Dr. James Warden, who

sued the inventor for not honoring his agreement to purchase an additional 410 acres at $25 an

acre.63 Later that summer, negotiations for further funding from industrialist Henry Clay Frick

had broken down. Adding further insult, Westinghouse was also avoiding Tesla’s letters and

pleas for help. Although Tesla reminded Westinghouse that the wireless energy he was

developing would benefit Westinghouse the most, he declined to help the struggling inventor.64

The year 1906, when Tesla turned fifty, was a troubling year for the inventor. His friend Stanford

White was shot and killed on June 26, and in the fall his longtime assistant and accountant

George Scherff found full time employment elsewhere. Alone and broke, Tesla stayed in his

hotel room at the Waldorf Astoria and his workers abandoned Wardenclyffe.

On May 5, 1908, Tesla mortgaged an additional $5,379.82 to the Waldorf Astoria for his

outstanding debts. As the plant laid vacant, trespassers began to notice that they could enter the

property and climb the tower to overlook the Long Island Sound. At this time, Tesla opened an

office at 165 Broadway (now 1 Liberty Plaza) to be closer to Manhattan’s wealthy elite. There he

was able to secure financing from Thomas Fortune Ryan, the well-known financier, and H. O.

Havemeyer, the leading sugar refiner, who aided him with contributions of $10,000 and $5,000

respectively.65 However, he used these funds to pay off his numerous other debts instead of those

related to Wardenclyffe.

However, Tesla continued to work and believed that he would soon return to his laboratory on

Long Island. In 1910, he moved his offices to the Metropolitan Tower, which had recently

opened and was the tallest building in the world, where he worked on perfecting turbines.

Without a laboratory, he tested a new steam model version at the Waterside Station of the New

York Edison Company. After clashing with the engineers and staff, he abandoned the project in

1911. Without any cash to fund the project himself, he looked for other companies to finance his

work with turbines.66

Worsening the inventor’s situation, Tesla lost another judgment in 1912, this time for $23,500, to

Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co. for machinery supplied to Tesla’s Wardenclyffe laboratory.

The machinery and equipment were taken from the site and returned to Westinghouse, Church,

Kerr & Co to satisfy the judgment. In 1914 Tesla moved offices once more, this time to the

Woolworth Building. Again, the office was in the tallest building at the time, surpassing the

63 “Verdict Against Tesla,” Brooklyn Eagle, May 9, 1905. 64 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 216. 65 O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, 214. 66 Ibid., 259.




Metropolitan Tower. However, after several months of not paying rent, he was forced to leave.

This same year, his longtime partner and early supporter, George Westinghouse, passed away.

Combined with interest, Tesla mortgaged nearly $20,000, almost half a million dollars today, on

his Wardenclyffe property. On March 30, 1915, unable to make any payments, was forced to

sign over the entire property to Lester S. Holmes, a lawyer for the Waldorf-Astoria.67 Fearing

this would become public, which would damage his already bruised credibility and compromise

further projects, Tesla arranged for the deed to be signed over to the Waldorf-Astoria through a

silent intermediary.

After Wardenclyffe

Although Wardenclyffe now belonged entirely to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Tesla believed that

the hotel company would be good stewards of the property and maintain it until he could get

back on his feet and return to the plant to finalize his World System experiments. Nothing was

further from the truth. Instead, the hotel corporation tried to find a way to convert the site into

cash. The March 1916 publication of Export American Industries ran a story titled "Tesla's

Million Dollar Folly" complete with photos of the interior of the lab, showing files and

machinery that was left behind. The article described the abandoned Wardenclyffe site: "There

everything seemed left as for a day — chairs, desks, and papers in businesslike array. The great

wheels seemed only awaiting Monday life. But the magic word has not been spoken, and the

spell still rests on the great plant."68 The story came out the same time as a New York World

article reporting on Tesla’s appearance in Suffolk County Supreme Court for his inability to pay

back taxes of $935 on Wardenclyffe. He revealed to the court that he had no real assets and lived

mostly off of credit.69

On May 18, 1917, Tesla was presented with the Edison Medal, the highest honor awarded by the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Two months after this celebration, the inventor

was notified that the laboratory had been vandalized and plans for the tower to come down were

underway.70 In July 1917, dynamite was laid at the base of the giant tower to begin demolition.

The blasts alarmed the locals of Shoreham and the newspapers falsely reported that the US

government spearheaded the demolition, suspecting German spies were using the tower for

espionage.71 Instead, it was the Smiley Steel Company of New York, which was hired by

Waldorf Astoria Hotel Corporation to take down the tower and sell its parts to cover outstanding

67 Suffolk County, New York, Mortgage Liber 910: 109-111. 68 H. Winfield Secor, “Tesla’s Million Dollar Folly,” Export American Industries, March 1916, 52. 69 “Tesla No Money Wizard; Swamped by Debts He Vows,” New York World, March, 18 1916. 70 Seifer, Wizard, 385. 71 “US Blows Up Tesla Radio Tower,” Electrical Experimenter, September 1917, 293.




debts. As more dynamite was needed than expected to bring down the mighty tower, the

corporation only gained $1,750 above salvage costs.72

After the tower finally came down, the Boldts and the Waldorf Astoria left the laboratory and

property vacant while Tesla spent a brief time in Chicago working on bladeless turbines for the

Pyle National Company. When he returned to New York in late 1918, he moved into the St.

Regis Hotel. From there, Tesla established a pattern of moving from hotel to hotel, leaving

behind unpaid bills. His last office was at 80 West 40th Street in Manhattan.73 In the years to

follow, George C. Boldt Jr. and the Waldorf Astoria sold off parcels of the Wardenclyffe

Property. In 1925, they sold the last remaining portion, which included the laboratory and tower

site, to Walter L. Johnson, a lawyer in Brooklyn.

Tesla continued to develop new ideas and would often meet with the press to announce new

plans and concepts he was working on. His last patents were issued in 1928, when Tesla was

nearing 72 years-of-age. These patents where for an aerial transportation device, a vertical take-

off and landing vehicle, resembling a helicopter.74 On January 7, 1943, the inventor and engineer

died at his room at the New Yorker at 86 years of age. Tesla never gave up on the idea of

wireless electricity and broadcasting, but Wardenclyffe was his last laboratory and the last hope

for the visionary’s plans of a wireless World System.

Later History of the Wardenclyffe Site

In 1938, the Long Island Railroad line east of Port Jefferson stopped operating. This same year

Plantacres, Inc. purchased 16 acres, including the laboratory, from Walter L. Johnson and leased

it to the Posi-Print Corporation, which later reorganized as Peerless Photo Products and

eventually purchased the site. Peerless used the site as a manufacturing plant of emulsions for

photo paper.

In the summer of 1939, Peerless renovated Tesla’s laboratory for use as a factory and offices for

the new company. Thankfully, the open design and brick construction of the Wardenclyffe

laboratory allowed for its sub-division with minimal disruption to the original building. A

twenty-foot addition added onto the northwest corner to allow for new coating equipment to be

installed; additional freestanding buildings were constructed at this time including a concrete

block boiler house, storage building to store flammable materials, and a wood framed storage

building, which appears to have been used for grounds maintenance equipment.

72 Cheney, Tesla: Man Out of Time, 219. 73 In 1994, New York City dubbed the corner (with Sixth Ave) near this office the Nikola Tesla Corner. 74 Nikola Tesla, Apparatus for aerial transportation, Patent 1,655,114 filed October 4, 1927, and issued January 3,

1928; Nikola Tesla, Method of aerial transportation, Patent 1,655,113 filed September 9, 1921, and issued

January 3, 1928.




As the company grew, the manufacturing processes changed, and production increased, the main

plant “building” was continually expanded and additional buildings and additions were

constructed to the north and west of the original laboratory building. In 1942, an addition was

constructed on the north side of the laboratory to house a finished store room, cutting room, and

packing room. In January 1950, the 1939 addition was elongated to allow for an extension to the

“coating alley.” In 1951, Building Number 4 was constructed northeast of the original laboratory

as a freestanding building housing equipment storage, plant maintenance, raw paper storage, and

truck loading platforms. In 1952, a 120-ft tall, 20-ft diameter, 40,000-gallon water tank (no

longer extant) was constructed west of the buildings to supplement water pressure from the

municipal water system for use in fire protection of the buildings. Building Number 5,

constructed in 1957 as warehouse space, connected the 1942 addition to Building Number 4

constructed in 1951. Three additional structures were constructed on the property between 1962

and 1966. In 1969 Peerless was taken over by Belgian firm Agfa-Gavaert, then a subsidiary of

Bayer, which continued to use the site for the same purposes and continued to expand the main

plant. Another two additions were added by 1978 and three more by 1984.75 Two additional

freestanding buildings, an industrial waste-water treatment facility and an administration

building, were constructed between 1978 and 1984 at the southwest corner of the site away from

the main production facility. 76

Agfa ceased manufacturing operations at the site in 1987.77 Prior to the construction of the

industrial waste-water treatment plant, significant ground contamination occurred on the site

Peerless Photo Products disposed of untreated process water into 800 feet long by 25 foot wide

recharge basins. The water contained metals such as cadmium, silver, lead, and other

compounds. The former stairwell which descended 120 feet below Tesla’s tower may have been

used as a disposal site for the wastewater as late as 1973.78Agfa began a cleanup of the site in

1993 under the auspices of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

While cleanup was underway, Tesla fans, scientists, and locals, began planning to acquire and

preserve what remained of Wardenclyffe. In 1996, the Tesla Science Center, originally called

Friends of Science East, was formed.

In 2012, boarded up with plywood and once again vacant, the historic site was almost sold to

developers. However, a successful crowdfunding campaign, in collaboration with the popular

comic website (and Tesla fan) Matthew Inman’s The Oatmeal, helped the Tesla Science Center

75 Groundwater Technologies, “Chronology of Site Development,” January 13, 1993. 76 United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Hazardous Waste Cleanup: AGFA Corporation - Peerless Photo

Products in Shoreham, New York,” EPA I.D. NYD002044139. 77 United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Hazardous Waste Cleanup: AGFA Corporation - Peerless Photo

Products in Shoreham, New York,” EPA I.D. NYD002044139. 78 Nancy Bauer Night, granddaughter of Robert Bauer, interviewed by Jane Alcorn, 2015.




raise more than a million dollars to finally save the laboratory building and site. On May 2, 2013

the Tesla Science Center purchased the property and on July 10, 2014, Tesla's 158th birthday,

the organization announced that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who named his electric car

company after the inventor, had pledged $1 million to the creation of a museum at

Wardenclyffe.79 It is the intent of the Tesla Science Center to restore Wardenclyffe Laboratory to

its appearance during the period of Nikola Tesla’s ownership and to interpret the building as a

museum dedicated to his work. They plan to remove non-contributing buildings in close

proximity to Wardenclyffe Laboratory and renovate other structures on-site to provide support

facilities or space for programs that support the museum’s mission.

79 Megan Gannon, “Nikola Tesla's Once-Neglected NY Lab Gets a New Life,” Live Science, July 10, 2014.

https://www.livescience.com/46742-nikola-tesla-wardenclyffe-museum.html





__________________________________________________________________

8. Major Bibliographical References

Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.)

Anderson, Leland. Nikola Tesla on His Work with Alternating Currents. Breckenridge, CO:

Twenty First Century Books, 2002.

Anderson, Leland. “Wardenclyffe - A Forfeited Dream.” Long Island Forum, Aug/Sept 1968.

Anderson, Leland. “Rare notes from Tesla at Wardenclyffe.” Electric Spacecraft Journal, April,

1997, 5.

Carlson, W. Bernard. “Places of Invention: Nikola Tesla's Life in New York,” The Gotham

Center for New York City History. https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/places-of-invention-

nikola-teslas-life-in-new-york

Cheney, Margaret. Tesla, Man Out of Time New York: Touchstone 2001.

Cooper, Christopher. Truth About Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of

Innovation. New York: Race Point Publishing, 2015.

Gannon, Megan. “Nikola Tesla's Once-Neglected NY Lab Gets a New Life.” Live Science, July

10, 2014. https://www.livescience.com/46742-nikola-tesla-wardenclyffe-museum.html

Groundwater Technologies. “Chronology of Site Development.” January 13, 1993.

King, Gilbert. “The Rise and Fall of Nikola Tesla and his Tower.” Smithsonian Magazine,

February 4, 2013. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-rise-and-fall-of-nikola-tesla-

and-his-tower-11074324/

Night, Nancy Bauer, granddaughter of Robert Bauer, interviewed by Jane Alcorn, 2015.

O'Neill, John Joseph. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla. New York: Cosimo Classics,

2006.

Pelletreau, William S. History of Suffolk County, New York. New York: Munsell & Co.

Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius. Secaucus,

NJ: Citadel, 2001.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. “Hazardous Waste Cleanup: AGFA

Corporation - Peerless Photo Products in Shoreham, New York.” EPA I.D. NYD002044139.







Primary Sources

Crow, William D. “Notes on Tesla Tower,” August 20, 1943, Library of Congress.

E. Belcher Hyde. Atlas of Suffolk County, Long Island. Brooklyn: E. Belcher Hyde, 1902.

Hawthorne, Julia. “Contemporary Celebrities: Nikola Tesla.” Philadelphia North American,

March 1900.

“Inventor Tesla’s Plant Nearing Completion.” Brooklyn Eagle, February 7, 1902.

McKim, Mead, & White, Ledgers, 1900 – 1902. Library of Congress.

Morgan, J. Pierpont to Tesla, February 15, 1901. Microfilm letter, Library of Congress.

Mortgage Liber 374: 124. Suffolk County Clerk’s Office, Riverhead, New York.

Mortgage Liber 910: 109-111. Suffolk County Clerk’s Office, Riverhead, New York.

“Mr. Tesla at Wardenclyffe, L.I.” Electric World and Engineer, Vol. 38 No. 13, September

1901, 510.

“Mr. Tesla’s Personal Exhibit at the World’s Fair.” Electrical Engineer, November 29, 1893.

Secor, H. Winfield. “Tesla’s Million Dollar Folly.” Export American Industries, March 1916, 52.

Tesla, Nikola. “A Striking Tesla Manifesto.” Electrical World & Engineer 43, February 6th,

1904.

Tesla, Nikola. Apparatus for aerial transportation. Patent 1,655,114 filed October 4, 1927, and

issued January 3, 1928.

Tesla, Nikola. Means for increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. Patent 685,012 filed

March 21, 1900, and issued October 22, 1901.

Tesla, Nikola. Method of insulating electric conductors. Patent 655,838 filed June 15, 1900, and

issued August 14, 1900.

Tesla, Nikola. Method of aerial transportation. Patent 1,655,113 filed September 9, 1921, and

issued January 3, 1928.

Tesla, Nikola. “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy.” Century, June 1900.

Tesla, Nikola to J. Pierpont Morgan, November 26, 1900. Microfilm letter, Library of Congress.

Tesla, Nikola to Stanford White, August 28, 1901 & August 30, 1901. Microfilm letter, Library

of Congress.

Tesla, Nikola to Stanford White, September 13, 1901. Microfilm letter, Library of Congress.




Tesla, Nikola. “The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires.” Electrical World, March

5, 1904.

“Tesla No Money Wizard; Swamped by Debts He Vows.” New York World, March, 18 1916.

“Tesla’s Flashes Startling.” The New York Sun, July 17, 1903.

“Under the Searchlight: Notes and Comments on Various Topics.” Electricity June 4, 1902.

“US Blows Up Tesla Radio Tower.” Electrical Experimenter, September 1917, 293.

“Verdict Against Tesla.” Brooklyn Eagle, May 9, 1905.

“What Mr. Tesla is Said to Have Said.” Western Electrician, March 14, 1903, 211.

White, Stanford to Nikola Tesla, April 26, 1901. Microfilm letter, Library of Congress.

White, Stanford to Nikola Tesla, June 1, 1901. Microfilm letter, Library of Congress.

__________________________________________________________________________

Previous documentation on file (NPS):

____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested

____ previously listed in the National Register

____ previously determined eligible by the National Register

____ designated a National Historic Landmark

____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________

____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________

____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________

Primary location of additional data:

____ State Historic Preservation Office

____ Other State agency

____ Federal agency

____ Local government

____ University

____ Other

Name of repository: _____________________________________

Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): ________________




____________________________________________________________________________

9. Geographical Data

Acreage of Property ______16.43_________

UTM References

NAD 1927 or NAD 1983

1. Zone: 18 Easting: 676996 Northing: 4535209



4. Zone: 18 Easting : 676735 Northing: 4535246

Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.)

The boundary is indicated by a heavy line on the enclosed map with scale.

Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.)

This nominated boundary includes the most important portion of the original 200-acre parcel

owned by Nikolas Tesla. This 16.43-acre site includes his original laboratory and the site of

his former Tower at Wardenclyffe. It also includes some buildings constructed by later

owners Peerless Photo Products and its successor Agfa Corporation, but remains largely open

space typical of its historic appearance. Outside of this boundary, the acreage associated with

Tesla’s ownership was developed into residences and businesses during the 20th century and

no longer retains integrity to its appearance during Tesla’s ownership.
















_______________________________________________________________________

10. Form Prepared By

name/title: ___Mark Thaler, partner; Justin Hoin and Aaron Wilson, staff_members__

organization: __Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC______

street & number: __79 North Pearl Street, 4th Floor____________________________

city or town: __Albany______________ state: __NY_______ zip code:_12207_____

[email protected]______________________________

telephone:___(518) 424-5186______________________

date:___May 16, 2018 __________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Additional Documentation

Submit the following items with the completed form:

Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's

location.

Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous

resources. Key all photographs to this map.

Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.)




Photographs

Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels

(minimum), 3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs

to the sketch map. Each photograph must be numbered and that number must correspond to

the photograph number on the photo log. For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo

date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and doesn’t need to be labeled on every

photograph.

Photo Log

Name of Property: Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe

City or Vicinity: Shoreham

County: Suffolk State: NY

Photographer: As Noted

Date Photographed: As Noted

Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of

camera:

NY_Suffolk Co_Nikola Tesla Wardenclyffe_0001

Laboratory, South elevation and Tower foundation, facing north. Photo taken August 24,

2016 by Justin Hoin, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, South elevation, facing north. Photo taken August 24, 2016 by Justin Hoin,

Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, South and east elevations, facing northwest. Photo taken August 24, 2016 by

Justin Hoin, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, East elevation, facing northwest with 1970s Refrigeration Room addition (now

demolished). Photo taken August 24, 2016 by Justin Hoin, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson

Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, East elevation, facing west. Photo taken May 18, 2016 by Stephen Reilly, Lacey

Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.





Laboratory, East elevation, facing southwest. Photo taken May 18, 2016 by Stephen Reilly,



Laboratory, Chimney, facing south. Photo taken May 18, 2016 by Stephen Reilly, Lacey



Laboratory, Cupola, facing northwest. Photo taken May 18, 2016 by Stephen Reilly, Lacey



Laboratory, South elevation, facing northeast with 1970s Addition “N” (at left). Photo taken

August 24, 2016 by Justin Hoin, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation,

LLC.


Laboratory, Chimney and cupola, facing northeast. Photo taken May 18, 2016 by Stephen

Reilly, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, south elevation, typical window bay, facing north. Photo taken May 18, 2016 by

Stephen Reilly, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC. NY_Suffolk Co_Nikola Tesla Wardenclyffe_0012

Laboratory, south elevation, typical masonry arched opening, facing north. Photo taken May

18, 2016 by Stephen Reilly, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, south elevation, typical sill and base, facing northeast. Photo taken May 18, 2016

by Stephen Reilly, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Site, looking north with Laboratory, South elevation, and 1970s Addition “N” (at left) in

background. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson



Bauer House, south elevation, facing northwest. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler,



Administration Building, south elevation, facing northwest. Photo taken April 10, 2018,

Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.





Industrial Waste Water Treatment Facility, west elevation, facing southeast. Photo taken

April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, 1970s Addition “N”, West elevation and parking area, facing northeast. Photo

taken April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation,

LLC.


Air Handling Building, West elevation on left; Boiler House, north elevation, straight ahead;

Laboratory 1980s Addition “O”, East elevation at right. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark

Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Guard Shack, south and east elevation, facing northwest. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark



Laboratory Additions “D”, “K”, “J”, and “M” (left to right) North elevations, facing

southeast. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture

& Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory Additions “C”, “G”, “D”, and “K” (left to right) North elevations, facing

southwest. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson



Maintenance Shed, north elevation, looking southwest. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark



Maintenance Shed, west and south elevation, looking east. Photo taken April 10, 2018, Mark



Volatile Materials Storage Building, west and north elevation, looking southeast. Photo taken

April 10, 2018, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, first floor level, typical window frame interior, facing south. Photo taken August

23, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.





Laboratory, first floor level, typical arched transom. Photo taken August 23, 2016, Mark



Laboratory, first floor level, office with original windows, facing southwest. Photo taken

August 23, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation,

LLC.


Laboratory, first floor level, mechanical room with original brick masonry walls, facing west.

Photo taken August 23, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture &

Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, first floor level, interior corridor with original masonry walls, facing north. Photo

taken August 23, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture &

Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, first floor level, original brick and iron vaulted corridor ceiling and masonry

walls, facing east. Photo taken August 23, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson



Laboratory, first floor level, original masonry opening and arched door frame, facing north.

Photo taken August 23, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture &

Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, second floor level, original truss connection to brick masonry wall; original

cornice molding, typical. Photo taken July 22, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly

Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, second floor level, original steam pipe, masonry wall, and exposed wood boards

above. Photo taken July 22, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture &

Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, second floor level, original brick masonry with arched window openings, framed

window transom, trusses and exposed wood boards above, facing west. Photo taken July 22,

2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.





Laboratory, second floor level, original brick masonry, cornice molding, and wood board

ceiling, looking west. Photo taken July 22, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson



Laboratory, second floor level, original brick masonry and arched opening, framed arched

transom, trusses with embedded stone supports, facing south. Photo taken July 22, 2016,

Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Laboratory, second floor level, upper level toilet room; original clerestory window openings

above, facing north. Photo taken July 22, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson



Laboratory, second floor level, original Tesla-era steam tank with riveted seams, pipe fittings

and round opening, facing southeast. Photo taken July 22, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler

Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLC.


Original Tesla-era steam tank with riveted seams and round opening, facing northwest. Photo

taken July 22, 2016, Mark Thaler, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation,

LLC.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC.




Appendix A: Nikola Tesla’s (1856 – 1943) Residences and Offices

Known Residences:

1856 - 1862 Nikola Tesla Birthplace and Family Home: Smiljan, Lika, Croatia

1862 - 1880 Family Home. Gospic, Lika, Croatia

(1870 – 1873) Karlovac, Croatia for High School

(1875 – 1878) Graz, Austrian Polytechnic School

(1878 – 1880) Maribor, Slovenia

1880 – 1881 13 Smeckach Street, Prague, Czech Republic

1881 - 1882 Budapest, Hungary – Unknown

1882 - 1884 Paris, France - Unknown

1884 - 1889 New York, NY- Unknown

1889 – 1892 Astor House Hotel (Corner of Vesey and Broadway, New York, NY)

No longer in existence

1891 - 1899 Gerlach Hotel (49 W 27th St. New York, NY)

Now an office building

1900 - 1917 Waldorf-Astoria (corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd St. New York, NY)

No longer in existence at that location

1918 - 1923 St. Regis Hotel, Room 1607 (2 East 55th St. New York, NY)

1923 - 1925 Hotel Marguery (270 Park Ave, New York, NY)


1925 – 1930 Hotel Pennsylvania (401 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY)

1930 - 1934 Hotel Governor Clinton

Now Stewart Hotel

1934 - 1943 New Yorker Hotel, Room 3327 (room) 3328 (study)




Laboratory/Workshops:

1884 - 1885 Edison Machine Works: Goerck Street, New York, NY


1885 – 1886 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ (Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing Company)


1887 - 1889 89 Liberty Street, New York, NY (Laboratory Tesla Electric Company)


1889 - 1892 175 Grand St. New York, NY


1892 - 1895 33-35 South 5th Ave, New York, NY (now LaGuardia Place)


1895 - 1902 46 East Houston St. New York, NY


1899 - 1900 Colorado Springs, CO


1902 - 1906 Wardenclyffe: 56 NY-25A, Shoreham, NY

Offices:

1906 – 1908 17 Battery Place, New York, NY Room 1403 room 1410 (Tesla Machine Co)

1909 – 1912 111 Broadway, New York, NY (Tesla Electro-Therapeutic Co. & Tesla Ozone

Co.)

1910 - 1914 Metropolitan Life Tower: 5 Madison Ave. New York, NY (Tesla Propulsion Co.)

1914 - 1914 Woolworth Building: 233 Broadway, New York, NY

1915 - 1921 8 West 40th St. New York, NY Room 2006 (Tesla Co.)




Figure 4. Site Plan & Photo Key. Red indicates Wardenclyffe Laboratory building.




Figure 2. Wardenclyffe, First Floor plan and photo key.




Figure 3. Wardenclyffe, Second Floor plan and photo key.




Figure 4. Wardenclyffe Laboratory and Tower north elevation looking south, circa 1902 before tower dome is added. Photograph courtesy of the Belgrade Museum.

Figure 5. West elevation of Wardenclyffe, approaching from Randall road after tower dome added. Photograph signed Greene, Port Jefferson, circa 1903-1917.




Figure 6. Interior of Wardenclyffe Machine Shop looking west, workshop area. Photograph courtesy of the Belgrade Museum.

Figure 7. Interior of Wardenclyffe Laboratory Dynamo Room, looking north. Photograph courtesy of the Belgrade Museum.




Figure 8. Interior of Wardenclyffe Laboratory, experimentation area, looking west. Photograph courtesy of the Belgrade Museum.




Figure 9. Interior of Wardenclyffe Laboratory, boiler in boiler room. Photo from Export American Industries magazine, dated March 1916.




Figure 10. Nikola Tesla circa 1904.

Figure 11. South and West elevations of the Laboratory during Peerless Photo Ownership. Photo circa 1940s.







































































































Documents

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States … tower was demolished for scrap in 1917; only its 90’ octagonal stone and concrete foundation remains. ... center chimney, and