Community Corner

PHOTOS: Tesla Group Allows First Glimpse at Wardenclyffe

After closing on the property on May 2, nonprofit group Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe opened up the doors.

A week and a half after closing on Wardenclyffe – Nikola Tesla's final laboratory in Shoreham – a nonprofit that purchased the property opened the grounds to the media for the first time, allowing a sneak peak of what once was, what has happened on site after years' worth of decay, and what is planned for the future.

The 15.6 acres that housed Agfa Corporation and Peerless Photo Products more recently has since been overgrown and vandalized, with mold, asbestos, and graffiti offering a glimpse of what needs to be cleaned up. But the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe has plans long-term, and at the heart of it is the laboratory Tesla – the Serbian-born inventor who introduced the world to alternating current electricity – lost to foreclosure in 1915, before eventually dying penniless almost 30 years later.

The exact plans for a museum and science center in Tesla's name will remain subject to much further planning – the group has to conduct a feasibility study next to determine which structures on the site would be sound for using, and which ones are beyond repair.

"We have to decide which buildings we want to keep and which ones should be removed," said TSC President Jane Alcorn, in a video interview with Patch. "However, the Tesla building - which of course, is the most beautiful one, designed by Stanford White - is where we hope to begin the Tesla museum part of this."

Access to much of the interior of the buildings remains risky: due to the aged structure (holes in the ceiling are evident in a few spots), lack of light on the inside, and mold and asbestos remediation still required on site, venturing too far indoors borders at times from fascinating to scary. And while vagrants have known to gain entry and squat from time to time, the group warns that Suffolk County Police has been given access to the site for training its K-9 teams.

The group purchased the land from Agfa Corp. on May 2, for about half their offering price: $850,000, down from the $1.6 million previously offered. A $1.3 million online fundraising campaign that brought in donations – and made headlines – from around the world helped the group reach its goal. The effort caught a $33,333 donation from the filmmakers of Fragments from Olympus – a film centered around the Serbian-born inventor – a matching grant from an angel investor, and another $35,000 from a Denver business owner.

But moving forward, members of the TSC said as much as $10 million could be necessary to create a science and learning center on site. 

"Now begin the next important steps in raising the money needed to restore the historic laboratory,” said Mary Daum, the group's treasurer, in a recent statement.


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