Consolidated Edison

New York City and Westchester County, NY
Consolidated Edison of New York

The relationship between Con Ed and Helpern Architects is in its fourth decade. We have provided inspections, feasibility studies, new-building designs, interior design, LEED certification, and a range of preservation and renovation services for well over 500 of their properties. Each project has entailed photographic and written reports, recommendations for corrections, and cost estimates to perform that work.

Con Ed has so far built two of the four new substations we designed, so they can add capacity and improve distribution. We have also represented them at courtesy agency and community presentations and at public hearings where contextual design, safety, security, and noise attenuation are all issues.

We began to restore Con Ed’s century-old Irving Place headquarters 30 years ago with the intricate preservation of the “Tower of Light” promenade belfry. The block-square building is actually a few combined structures designed first by Henry Hardenbergh and then Warren & Wetmore across the first third of the 20th century. We have recently replaced the building’s 2,500 windows – the oldest of them copper over wood; repaired all the masonry; and preserved the cast iron-and-copper storefronts around the base of the building.