Wardenclyffe Tower: Tesla’s Shoreham Lab, Then and Now

The octagonal foundation of a tower that came down in 1917 can still be seen from Route 25A in Shoreham, next to a brick laboratory building that Stanford White designed for Nikola Tesla. Both belong to Wardenclyffe, which the American Physical Society calls the last standing laboratory dedicated to Tesla, and which occupies roughly 16 of the 200 acres he bought there in 1901.

Over a century, the property has been a wireless-power experiment, a photographic-chemicals plant, a regulated cleanup site, and, since 2013, a nonprofit’s restoration project. A developer’s town plan brought Tesla to this stretch of the North Shore, and a financier’s money paid for the buildings. Cadmium, lead and silver from the film-processing years went into the ground, and the cleanup that followed left legal restrictions on the parcel. A crowdfunding campaign then bought the land back, and in July 2026 the first public building opened on it.

What follows traces that sequence in order, using public records, news coverage and the Tesla Science Center’s own announcements. Everything below was checked against the linked sources on October 3, 2026. Tour schedules, building status and funding totals change, so visitors should confirm current details with the center before planning a trip.

Detail	What the sources say
Address	5 Randall Road, Shoreham, NY (Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County)
Construction began	1901
Tower height	187 feet; removed in 1917
Laboratory building	Brick; designed by Stanford White
Site size today	About 16 acres of Tesla’s original 200
Owner	Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, a nonprofit, since May 2013
National Register of Historic Places	Listed July 27, 2018
First public building	The Sayan Center, dedicated July 10, 2026

A town plan came before the laboratory

Before anyone built a tower, there was a lot map. James S. Warden, a lawyer, owned land near Shoreham and, according to The Tesla Record, hoped a radio installation would seed a town there. At the end of July 1901 Tesla closed on about two hundred acres of flat scrub, and the estate took Warden’s name.

The Tesla Memorial Society of New York fills in the commercial side. Its account has Warden directing the Suffolk County Land Company, with roughly 1,800 acres controlled next to Tesla’s parcel, and describes lots being advertised in the New York Times at $3,000 to $10,000 apiece to Wall Street businessmen looking for summer places. The same page places the Shoreham railroad station next to the Tesla property, calling it ideal for moving equipment and supplies, and says Warden hoped Tesla’s presence would justify homes for the workforce he expected on the neighboring land.

A related thread, how nineteenth-century subdivisions still govern modern property lines, runs through the site’s piece on the forgotten developer who platted the North Fork.

What Tesla built on the scrub

The laboratory was a 94-foot-square brick building with a central chimney, designed by Stanford White, according to The Tesla Record. The tower rose to 187 feet, per the American Physical Society, with a domed top roughly 68 feet across. National Park Service records for the property credit McKim, Mead and White and William D. Crow with the design, and list 1902 and 1906 as years of significance.

The purpose was ambitious. As The Tesla Record summarizes the scheme, an oscillator would drive a large tuned coil, a raised terminal on a mast would sit atop the structure, and a solid connection to the earth would complete the circuit, with matching equipment at the far end. The ground itself was meant to carry the current. A 1991 article in the Electric Spacecraft Journal, reproduced by Tesla Universe, describes the intended use more broadly, as a worldwide transmitter of energy for ships, aircraft and other machines, and notes a 12-foot-square shaft reaching 120 feet underground, with radial tunnels, to anchor the connection to the earth.

Financing came from J.P. Morgan, who advanced $150,000 for what was pitched as transatlantic wireless telegraphy. A rival was moving quickly. Atlas Obscura dates Marconi’s announced transatlantic signal to December 1901, the same year construction began at Shoreham.

Why the money stopped in 1903

By 1903 the project needed more capital than Morgan wanted to supply. A 1968 Long Island Forum article, reproduced by Tesla Universe, lays out the correspondence. On July 3, 1903, Tesla told Morgan that the real aim was transmitting power, not just messages. Eleven days later Morgan wrote back, and the reply was short: “I should not feel disposed at present to make any further advances.”

Experiments continued on the property into 1906, according to the Tesla Science Center’s account, but the commercial plan was finished. The tower was demolished and sold for scrap in 1917, a date given by Atlas Obscura, the Tesla Science Center and The Tesla Record. What survived was the brick building and the tower’s octagonal base.

Photographic chemicals, 1939 to 1987

The next chapter was industrial and far less celebrated. Peerless Photo Products began manufacturing photographic products on the property in 1939, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s corrective action summary, and Agfa-Gevaert acquired the company in 1969. Operations ended in 1987.

For the first four decades, process water carrying silver, cadmium, lead and other compounds was discharged into recharge basins; a wastewater treatment facility was built in 1979. A New York State Department of Environmental Conservation notice on the cleanup plan, which references a public meeting held in March 2004, reports silver concentrations above 300 parts per million in the north recharge basins.

The remedy combined several steps: excavating contaminated soil and disposing of it off site, reusing less-affected soil on the property, stabilizing material at depth in place, monitoring groundwater over the long term, and an environmental easement restricting groundwater use and future development. EPA’s summary says remediation finished in 2008 and lists corrective action as complete as of August 2009, with some subsurface contamination remaining that is described as posing no exposure risk.

A webcomic, an Indiegogo campaign, and $1.37 million

By 2012 the former Tesla lab was listed for sale at $1.6 million, and the building was described in IEEE Spectrum as derelict. Cartoonist Matthew Inman, who draws The Oatmeal, partnered with the nonprofit Friends of Science East, now operating as the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, to launch an Indiegogo campaign in August 2012. IEEE Spectrum reports more than $450,000 raised in the first 24 hours, and New York State had offered $850,000 in matching funds, contingent on an equal amount in private donations.

VentureBeat put the campaign’s final total at $1,370,511. The American Physical Society confirms the group bought the roughly 16-acre property in May 2013 after raising $1.37 million. Atlas Obscura adds that more than a hundred volunteers had helped with cleanup by September 2013, when a statue of Tesla was dedicated on the grounds on September 23.

Official recognition came next. The American Physical Society designated Wardenclyffe a Historic Site on December 11, 2016. The state’s Division of Historic Preservation voted unanimously to nominate the property, and on July 27, 2018 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, a nomination effort that Untapped Cities reports drew 9,500 endorsements within a single week.

The November 2023 fire

On November 21, 2023, a fire broke out at the laboratory building. WSHU reported that the roof structure, with its wood decking and asphalt roofing, burned along with the north side of the building, including the chimney and cupola, while the brick walls and foundation stayed intact. The Riverhead News Review’s year-end review reported that investigators ruled out arson and that steel girders were damaged beyond repair.

State Senator Anthony Palumbo told WSHU the property is “a really important historic site,” and the center launched a $3 million emergency fund drive called Mission Rebuild within two weeks. Grants followed, among them a $500,000 award from New York State Parks reported by TBR News Media in February 2025.

The scale of the work is large. TBR News Media’s April 2025 report put the original restoration budget at $20 million, said the fire added about $3.5 million to the estimate and roughly a year to the timeline, and counted $14 million already raised from across the country, with further grants payable on completion of designated work. Those figures date from April 2025, and the center’s current totals may differ. The laboratory the money is meant to restore is, per the center’s mission page, a 10,000-square-foot building that will become an exhibit space once work is finished.

The Sayan Center and what is open now

Ground was broken on the Eugene Sayan Visitor Center in September 2025, according to the Tesla Science Center’s groundbreaking announcement, as a 2,200-square-foot hub for tours, STEAM programs, artifact preservation and administrative offices. The project drew support from Eugene Sayan, the Ludwick Foundation, National Grid, Suffolk County and New York State Economic Development. In April 2026 the Riverhead News Review reported a further $200,000 from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for the education center.

The Town of Brookhaven reported the dedication as taking place on July 10, 2026. The Sayan Center sits inside the Bauer House, a 1920s structure that has stood on the property for more than a century, converted through an adaptive reuse renovation that began in September 2025. It is the first building at Wardenclyffe open to the public. Councilwoman Jane Bonner called it “an important milestone in the restoration of this historic property.”

TBR News Media’s preview of the Nikola Tesla Expo, scheduled for the site on July 11, describes the Sayan Center as an introduction that leads toward a future main museum inside Tesla’s original laboratory building. Executive Director Kara Cannon said the opening means the center can “welcome visitors into a dedicated space.” The center’s programs page lists a fall Space Science program, Metal for Tesla, and a 90-minute guided walking tour that covers the exterior of the historic campus. The Riverhead News Review’s coverage of the dedication calls it a preview center for the larger campus.

Video embedded on the Tesla Science Center’s own tour page.

The dates in order

1901: Tesla closes on about 200 acres near Shoreham from James S. Warden; construction begins the same year.
December 1901: Marconi announces a transatlantic radio signal.
July 1903: Morgan declines to advance more money.
1906: The last year of the 1901–1906 experiments that the Tesla Science Center describes.
1917: The tower is demolished for scrap.
1939: Peerless Photo Products begins manufacturing on the property.
1969: Agfa-Gevaert acquires Peerless.
1979: A wastewater treatment facility is built.
1987: Manufacturing operations end.
March 2004: A public meeting is held on the state’s cleanup plan.
2008–2009: Remediation finishes; EPA lists corrective action as complete in August 2009.
August 2012: The Oatmeal’s Indiegogo campaign launches.
May 2013: The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe buys the property.
December 11, 2016: The American Physical Society designates Wardenclyffe a Historic Site.
July 27, 2018: The National Register of Historic Places lists the property.
November 21, 2023: Fire damages the laboratory building.
September 2025: Ground is broken on the Eugene Sayan Visitor Center.
July 10, 2026: The Sayan Center is dedicated.

Why the cleanup record still matters

Wardenclyffe shows how much of a parcel’s history can follow it. The state’s 2004 cleanup plan called for an environmental easement restricting groundwater use and future development, and restrictions of that kind are the sort of item title work is meant to surface. The site’s explainer on reading a title commitment and chain of title walks through where they appear. The related piece on easements recorded before 1960 covers older restrictions that survive from earlier eras.

Cleanup history works the same way in other places along the Sound. Port Jefferson’s harbor front has its own record of industrial soil, covered in the Bayles Shipyard brownfield cores, and a few hamlets west of Shoreham, the Mount Sinai neighborhood guide describes a quieter stretch of the same shoreline.

This is for informational purposes only — consult a licensed attorney or financial advisor for your specific situation.

Visiting Wardenclyffe

The address is 5 Randall Road in Shoreham. The Tesla Science Center says it offers scheduled guided tours of the historic grounds, where visitors can see the original laboratory building and stand at the base of where the tower once rose. The walking tour is listed at 90 minutes and stays on the outside of the buildings, so interior access to the laboratory should not be assumed. Atlas Obscura notes that the foundation and the laboratory are visible from Route 25A, and older accounts describe the site as closed outside scheduled events, so checking the center’s calendar before driving out is the safer plan.

The center posts updates on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, all linked from its own website.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wardenclyffe Tower still standing?

No. The tower was dismantled in 1917. The brick laboratory building and the octagonal base of the tower remain on the site.

Who owns Wardenclyffe today?

The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, a nonprofit also known as Friends of Science East, bought the roughly 16-acre property in May 2013 after its crowdfunding campaign.

Can visitors go inside the laboratory building?

The center’s planned main museum is meant to occupy the original laboratory building but has not opened. The Sayan Center, dedicated in July 2026, is the first public building on the campus, and the center runs scheduled tours of the grounds.

Was the property contaminated?

Yes. Metals including silver, cadmium and lead from decades of photographic manufacturing were found in soil and groundwater. EPA lists corrective action as complete as of August 2009 and says some subsurface contamination remains but poses no exposure risk. The state’s cleanup plan called for an environmental easement restricting groundwater use and future development.

How long is the guided tour, and does it go inside?

The center’s programs page lists the Tours of Wardenclyffe as a 90-minute guided walk that covers the exterior of the historic campus. Dates and availability change, so the center’s calendar is the place to confirm them.

How much is the restoration costing?

As of April 2025, TBR News Media reported an original budget of $20 million, about $3.5 million added by the 2023 fire, and $14 million raised. Totals have likely moved since then.

Where is Wardenclyffe?

It sits at the intersection of Randall Road and Route 25A in Shoreham, in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County.

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Sources

American Physical Society — Wardenclyffe historic site: https://www.aps.org/funding-recognition/historic-sites/wardenclyffe
Atlas Obscura — Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Laboratory: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tesla-s-wardenclyffe-laboratory
The Tesla Record — Wardenclyffe: https://teslainfo.org/wardenclyffe/
Tesla Memorial Society of New York — James Warden: https://teslasociety.com/warden.htm
Tesla Universe (Long Island Forum, August 1968) — Wardenclyffe, A Forfeited Dream: https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/wardenclyffe-forfeited-dream
U.S. EPA (archived January 2021) — Agfa Corporation / Peerless Photo Products, Shoreham: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/hwcorrectiveactionsites/hazardous-waste-cleanup-agfa-corporation-peerless-photo-products-shoreham_.html
NYS DEC — Peerless Photo Products site notice of availability (2004): https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/data/DecDocs/152031/Fact%20Sheet.HW.152031.2004-07-01.Notice%20of%20Availability-ROD.pdf
IEEE Spectrum — Get Ready for a Tesla Museum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/get-ready-for-a-tesla-museum
VentureBeat — Tesla museum, The Oatmeal: https://venturebeat.com/business/tesla-museum-oatmeal
Tesla Science Center — added to the National Register: https://teslasciencecenter.org/announcements/wardenclyffe-added-to-u-s-national-historic-register
Untapped Cities (July 20, 2018): https://untappedcities.com/2018/07/20/nikola-teslas-only-remaining-laboratory-named-to-ny-state-register-of-historic-places/
National Park Service NRIS record 100002744: https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/100002744
WSHU (November 30, 2023): https://www.wshu.org/long-island-news/2023-11-30/tesla-science-center-fire-historic-site-nikola-tesla
Riverhead News Review — 2023 year in review: https://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com/2023/12/118530/year-in-review-2023-tesla-fire-not-an-arson/
TBR News Media — Mission Rebuild campaign (December 2, 2023): https://tbrnewsmedia.com/eternal-flame-tesla-science-center-launches-3m-mission-rebuild-campaign/
TBR News Media — $500,000 New York State Parks grant (February 2025): https://tbrnewsmedia.com/tesla-science-center-in-shoreham-awarded-500000-grant-from-new-york-state-parks-to-support-laboratory-restoration/
Tesla Science Center — visitor center breaks ground (September 2025): https://teslasciencecenter.org/announcements/visitor-center-breaks-ground/
Riverhead News Review — $200,000 grant (April 2026): https://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com/2026/04/133424/tesla-science-center-in-shoreham-awarded-200k-grant-for-new-education-center/
Town of Brookhaven — Sayan Center dedication (July 15, 2026): https://www.brookhavenny.gov/m/NewsFlash/Home/Detail/4894
TBR News Media — Nikola Tesla Expo 2026 (July 1, 2026): https://tbrnewsmedia.com/tesla-science-center-at-wardenclyffe-gears-up-for-nikola-tesla-expo-2026/
Riverhead News Review — dedication coverage (July 8, 2026): https://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com/2026/07/135352/tesla-science-center-to-dedicate-new-visitor-center-after-wardenclyffe-fire/
Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe: https://teslasciencecenter.org/
Tesla Science Center — programs: https://teslasciencecenter.org/programs
Tesla Science Center — mission and site plans: https://teslasciencecenter.org/our-mission/
TBR News Media — Tesla Science Center recoups, focuses on the future (April 11, 2025): https://tbrnewsmedia.com/tesla-science-center-recoups-focuses-on-the-future/
Tesla Universe (Electric Spacecraft Journal, April 1991) — Tesla’s Tower, Wardenclyffe: https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/teslas-tower-wardenclyffe

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