Perhaps inspired by the use of the Willow Street Steam Plant’s iconic trio of smokestacks in the scene-setting clip for the club Verdant, as used by the CW series Arrow, local steampunk impresario, Gil Cnaan, has let it slip that he may be in talks with the abandoned steam generation plant’s current owners. The plan, according to Cnaan’s spokesperson, would be to open a permanent steampunk-themed nightclub inside the landmark structure.

According to the website Workshop of the World:

This great hulking structure was built in 1927 by the Philadelphia Electric Company as part of Center City Philadelphia’s elaborate steam delivery system, which still operates. Rail cars used to bring fuel via tracks along Willow Street. The smokestacks are 163 feet high. It’s been abandoned for over 25 years.

If successful, Cnaan’s plan could lead to the preservation and reuse of this structure.

• Willow Steam photo by Bob Bruhin. Copyright 2013, all rights reserved.
• Gil Cnaan photo by Hugh Casey. Some rights reserved under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.