Take a look at a real life Victorian House that fit's perfectly with the description of steampunk - I think you will find 'Cragside house' to be quite inspiring!
Contol gear of the original powerhouse.
Once described as a "a palace of the modern magician", the house featured gadgets well ahead of its time such as fire alarm buttons, telephones, a passenger lift ('elevator' to those over the pond), Hot & Cold running water, A hot room, A rain shower, A plunge bath and a Turkish bath suite. Ranks of cast iron pipes and cleverly hidden radiators provided central heating, and, just to make everything safe, a fire hydrant ring main surrounded the house. It can be said that Cragside was the place where modern living began.
In 1868, a hydraulic engine was installed, with water being used to power labour-saving machines such as laundry equipment, a rotisserie (The meat in front of the kitchen range was turned by a little ‘Scotch Mill’ water turbine, still in operation today) and a hydraulic lift that was based on the ‘jigger’ technology he had developed for his world famous cranes. In 1870, water from one of the estate's lakes was used to drive a Siemens dynamo in what was the world's first hydroelectric power station. The resultant electricity was used to power an arc lamp installed in the Gallery in 1878 - Cragside became the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. The arc lamp was replaced in 1880 by Joseph Swan's incandescent lamps in what Swan considered 'the first proper installation' of electric lighting. The generators, which also provided power for the farm buildings on the estate, were constantly extended and improved to match the increasing electrical demand in the house. The power supply for this early installation was improved by the introduction of portable batteries in 1883 which were installed to store electricity generated in periods of low demand for use later, and by the completion of a new power house in 1886. This housed a purpose made turbine and generator which was capable of producing more than 10KW of electricity. In 1895 hydroelectric generation was supplemented by a gas-powered engine (gas as in Methane, or rather 'Town Gas' at that time, which was derived from coal) which was used to drive a second generator. The house was rewired with a new parallel circuit by Drake & Goreham of London. Although still a DC current, the result was a great improvement, enabling individual fittings to be independently switched for the first time at Cragside.
Over 110 years later, the House was finally rewired, which was completed in April 2007 after 18 months of intensive work. Now that really was built to last!
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Armstrong,_1st_Baron_Armstronghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-12970974http://www.victorianweb.org/technology/engineers/armstrong.html
