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Steam Networks
New York's skyscrapers soar above a century-old steam network that still warms the city. While the rest of the world moved to hot water, Manhattanites still buy steam by the megapound.
It is used for: pressing linens at The Waldorf Astoria; cleaning crockery and heating food in restaurants; washing clothes at dry cleaners; sterilizing medical equipment at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital; by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to control the humidity levels and temperatures around its artwork. It was an associate of John D. Rockefeller, an entrepreneur and ‘popular dandy with a flair for equipage and flowered vests’ called Wallace Andrews, along with his engineering partner, Charles E. Emery, who came across Holly’s designs and decided to implement them in New York City. The first customers were mostly office buildings, such as the First National Bank at Broadway and Wall Street, but users included busy restaurants (one serving ten thousand meals per day), electrical power generators, laundries, and public baths.
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