Getting into the tunnel under Westinghouse Park

On May 8, 2019, Brandon Davis of Christine Davis Associates and David Bear of The Westinghouse Park 2nd Century Coalition climbed down into the tunnel that runs 225 feet under the park, connecting the basement of the Solitude mansion with George Westinghouse’s private laboratory now under the cement block park building. Here are photographs from that exploration.

A cast iron grill covers this ventilation shaft, one of three along the length of the tunnel.

The brick-lined, bee-hive shaped tunnel is 8 feet high and 5 feet wide at floor level. The cement floor lies 12 feet below surface level, and a cone of park debris that has accumulated at each air vent over a century provides access. Here Bear is standing on the top of one pile, preparing to wiggle his way down its side to the tunnel floor.

Brandon goes in.

An unidentified relic and an old liquor bottle.

A wall bracket.

Another wall bracket, perhaps to carry electric wire?

Looking north down the tunnel in the direction of the mansion.

As the tunnel nears the house, a side passage branches off to the left. For utilities?

The north end of the tunnel was filled with debris from the demolition of the mansion in 1919.

Here’s a closer look.

Brandon shimmies in for an even closer inspection.

Still-functioning drains are situated along the cement floor of the tunnel.

Several have cast iron covers.

To where does the water drain?

More relics in the tunnel.

Looking back toward the lab, there are hangers built into the tunnel walls.

It’s definitely dark down there.

Here’s the south end of the tunnel.

And the door way into the lab was bricked shut.