Another piece of history has gone up in flames. This time it was the old Tank & Boiler Shop’s turn to burn, and unlike the Roundhouse, there isn’t much left to preserve in the wake of the inferno.
The Tank & Boiler Shop was among the last of the Backshop buildings to be planned out and the last to be built, opening in April or May of 1921. As the name suggests, the shop handled the boilers and tender tanks of steam locomotives while the Machine & Erecting Shop handled more mechanical matters such as running gear.
Once steam had been phased out, the Boiler Shop was of no further use to SP and became the first shop building to be closed. Ironically, this may have saved it from demolition – the property was leased to other businesses, where it gained a second life. This relationship ended up outlasting the railroad (or the parcel was sold wholesale at some point – we aren’t privy to the details). Most recently, the building was home to J&J Culinary, formerly Lazzari Fuel.
The Boiler Shop had been vacant for a few months until, late last night (March 23), someone started a fire. Perhaps a homeless person had been trying to stay warm*, or a maladjusted individual just wanted to see something burn. Either way, the building caught fire.
*If you are simultaneously 1) homeless and 2) reading this, FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY AS MUCH AS THE BUILDING’S, keep any source of ignition well away from these kinds of structures. We’ve been told horror stories of people camped out in the track sheds who burned to death after the sheds caught fire.
With the Roundhouse, there were brick walls on the outside and in the middle of the structure; the former were left standing after half the roof burned off, and the latter prevented the other half of the roof from following suit. Not so with the Boiler Shop. Despite the exterior being clad in metal, the frame was all-timber. Most of the exterior fell off, and while the charred skeleton still stands, it’s unlikely that anything other than bits and pieces of hardware will be salvageable.
The Boiler Shop was not listed on the National Register of Historic Places and had potentially been on the chopping block for a while now, but the loss of this historic building – especially after how long it survived – still stings.
2 replies on “Requiem for the Bayshore Boiler Shop”
Thank you for the update — despite the actual news, it is nice to see some updates again. What is the current state of plans for what is left of the roundhouse?
As of Brisbane’s draft specific plan for the Baylands, the Roundhouse and surrounding area are slated to become a public park encircled by a roundabout. There’s an illustrative concept diagram of it on page 232 (section 5) of the plan, which you can download on Brisbane’s website.
They don’t plan on rebuilding the collapsed roof over the east partition, instead using it as an open-air amphitheater, which… well, it’s better than demolishing it. Uses for the remaining, roofed space inside the Roundhouse itself are left undecided.
We haven’t heard any further updates since the draft was submitted in 2023.
(Incidentally, if you’re worried about the Boiler Shop fire’s effect on the Roundhouse, it was thankfully unscathed.)