The Ansonia: A Manhattan Landmark Built With Its Own Power Plant and Rooftop Farm

Cultures · Published 10 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Rising seventeen stories above the Upper West Side, the Ansonia was once a self-sufficient marvel of early 1900s engineering. Beyond its ornate Beaux-Arts facade lay a private power plant, a massive swimming pool, and a rooftop farm complete with bears and goats, all designed to redefine luxury urban living.

Conceived by developer William Earle Dodge Stokes and designed by architect Paul Emile Duboy, the Ansonia opened in 1904 as a residential hotel that pushed the boundaries of scale and technology. Costing $6 million—eight times its original budget—the building featured an irregular H-shaped footprint designed to maximize natural light for its hundreds of suites. Its construction was a feat of industrial ambition, requiring the largest plumbing contract of its time and an internal network of 175 miles of piping to supply gas, water, and electricity.

The building’s infrastructure was remarkably advanced for the era. It operated its own coal-fired power plant and an air-filtration system that circulated temperature-controlled air through wall-mounted pipes, maintaining a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Residents enjoyed modern conveniences like pneumatic tubes for communication and a dedicated staff that provided daily housekeeping, including changing linens three times a day. The basement housed a vast shopping arcade and a massive swimming pool, which later gained notoriety in the late 20th century as the site of the Continental Baths and the swingers' club Plato's Retreat.

Stokes’s eccentric vision extended to the roof, where he maintained a farm populated by chickens, ducks, goats, and bears, reportedly delivering fresh eggs to tenants daily. This agricultural experiment ended in 1907 following a Department of Health raid. Despite its grandeur, the Ansonia faced constant labor strikes during construction and subsequent financial instability, leading to its conversion into a transient hotel in 1911. Today, the building stands as a designated New York City landmark, having transitioned from a short-term hotel back to a condominium in 1992, preserving its unique architectural legacy while housing a mix of rent-regulated and private tenants.

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