Special:Badtitle/NS90:Rafael Guastavino, constructor of the Pearl St station (1)

It is believed that the architect or constructor of the Pearl St station was Rafael Guastavino, whose company subsequently built a large number of vaults and domes in the United States starting with the Boston Public Library. Guastavino left Barcelona and arrived in New York on 4 March 1880, two years before Pearl Street was inaugurated. Engravings of the generating station show vaulted floors similar to the system used by Guastavino. There was a need for great load-bearing capacity to take the extremely heavy machinery which Edison had to use, and the Spaniard's construction methods may have recommended him for the project.

He is also tied to Edison through the latter's collaborator and investor, Jose Francisco de Navarro. Could he have instigated Guastavino's emigration to New York to undertake the Edison commission?