The electricity factory
Work on the electricity factory – the present-day Training Centre – began in February 1903. It is the only building on the model farm to have an L-shaped plan and a large number of big windows. The factory started operation around 10 August 1903, with the commissioning of a coal-powered steam engine equipped with a dynamo and a Tudor storage battery. Two men were responsible for its operation and maintenance, a chief electrician and his assistant. Owing to its modernity and cost, the electricity factory became the most important of the farm’s outbuildings.
The stables were electrified during the last quarter of 1903 on the occasion of a visit by the Maharaja of Kapurthala, with the Château next on the list.
The arc lamps (lamps operating by a succession of sparks generated by two poles) in the half-blood stable, the pony stable and the working saddlery are identical to those that lit the Opéra Garnier and Paris City Hall in the early 20th century.
