W.R. Meyers Co Cleans the Toledo Edison Steam Plant in 1973

The Toledo Edison Steam Plant is a magnificent structure, designed by nationally renowned architect, Daniel Burhnam, famous for designing the Flatiron Building in NYC and Chicago’s 1893 Worlds Fair. Betty Mock of the Promenade Park Project and John Williamson, the president of Toledo Edison, discovered W.R.Meyers Company through and article in the Toledo Blade and speculated that no other company could pull off this great undertaking like W.R. Meyers Co could. They were interested in our ability to clean brick and stone of heavy carbon build up, as our team had done in restorations in Bowling Green in the early 70’s. Promanade Park was a big and risky investment for Toledo and a first attempt to revitalize the ailing downtown Toledo waterfront — cleaning up the flagship architectural gem, the Steam Plant, was the first step in this process.

Many decades of operation of the Steam Plant resulted in heavy black carbon build-up and discoloration, but through tried and tested methods W.R. Meyers Co stripped the building back to its original grandeur without eroding the mortar or damaging architectural detailing. In 1985 the steam plant was shut down. It was converted to its current function as a downtown headquarters for ProMedica.