Wouldjah look at the "Knob & Tube" wiring up on the wall?

Those old slate switchboards were a work of art but very dangerous. When operating the switches you had to be very careful to touch only the small insulated handle. The slightest contact with the exposed metal parts could be fatal. And even if you were careful you could still get flash burns from an arc as the contacts open. These days switches are required to be enclosed in boxes and even then protective "flash suits" are often worn when operating them.

The switchboard on the left is constructed with sheets of highly polished black slate held in metal frames, recognizable to me from a similar and much larger switchboard installation in the old San Diego Fire Alarm building. Heavy slate panels were used as non-conducting mounts for high voltage switches, voltage regulators, gauges and other electrical devices.

This photo is very similar to an illustration in the 1902 first edition of "Handbook for the Use of Electricians in the Operation and Care of Electrical Machinery and Apparatus of the U.S. Seacoast Defenses," published by the War Department in 1902, with a second edition in 1904. The book includes descriptions and specs for the construction of power houses for electrical searchlights, which could also have been the function of this setup. Page 56 neatly describes the installation seen here. The entire manual is available online here.

Reminds me of the powerhouse at Lock 7 on the Erie canal when I worked there. Originally the dynamo/generator was run by a water turbine, but when I was working there in 1998 it had long since been changed to be run by an AC motor. All the Lock motors that ran the gates and valves were still DC so it was a quick and easy way of converting AC to DC.

That's called "emergency lighting", for when the dynamo stops!

This could just as easily be an early soft-serve ice cream machine.

On the other side of the room by chance, is there a man on an operating table with bolts through his neck?

Just above the right side appears to be a gaslight. If it is, what a juxtaposition of technologies. Love the seashell lamp covers.

The electrical lighting dynamo room has a GAS light fixture - that's confidence for you!