{"nrhp_refnum":"93000670","name":"Powerhouse, The","other_names":["Old Powerhouse","Building 76"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of S. Perimeter Rd. and Cuesta Ave., NE corner","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Luis Obispo","county":"San Luis Obispo County","state":"CA","lat":35.29906804900003,"lon":-120.66346490199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-07-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering","Education"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival power plant on the Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo, California, designed by William H. Weeks and built in 1908-1909 as one of the school's original buildings.","why_significant":"It is the oldest remaining building on the Cal Poly campus and the only surviving original building by architect William H. Weeks. Built with student labor and run largely by students, it embodied the school's \"learn by doing\" philosophy. It supplied campus electricity and heat from 1910 into the 1940s, then served the School of Architecture and Environmental Design.","narrative":"Built in 1908-1909 on the Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo, this one-story wood-frame powerhouse is finished in stucco textured to resemble adobe and carries a Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival design by architect William H. Weeks. Students in the carpentry classes helped construct it under Maino and Son, and students operated the plant under two full-time operators. From 1910 it supplied electricity and steam heat to the campus, years before rural electric service reached San Luis Obispo County, and it also housed engineering classes. After a new plant opened in 1955, the building passed to the School of Architecture and Environmental Design, which used it as a design lab, gallery and lecture hall until 1990. It is the oldest surviving campus building and the only remaining original Weeks building there. At the time of listing it was used for storage and suffered from roof leaks.","period_of_significance":"1909-1943","architect_builder":"Weeks, William (architect); Maino & Son (builder)","architectural_style":"Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"At the time of the nomination the building was used for storage, had roof leaks, and was slated for demolition on the campus master plan, though no funds were available.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.543667-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/93000670.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000670/c7aac57e1f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000670/c7aac57e1f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"mountmonty","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Powerhouse_2012-09-26_16-52-15.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">mountmonty</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Powerhouse_2012-09-26_16-52-15.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861476","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Powerhouse_(San_Luis_Obispo,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14684119"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-luis-obispo-county/powerhouse-the-93000670/"}