In 1901 The Manchester Corporation Bloom Street power station opened with eleven Babcock and Wilcox coal-fired boilers and four 1,800 kW Musgrave vertical engines driving Westinghouse generators. It was built to supplement the nearby Dickinson Street Electric Light Station because demand for electric lighting and the new electric tramways had grown too high. From 1911 onward, surplus steam was piped underground to heat local city-centre landmarks like the Palace Theatre and the Refuge Assurance Building. In 1953, oil-fired boilers replaced the original coal plant. The station officially ceased power generation and closed in 1985. Parts of the building now house an electricity substation. It is listed Grade II.