Eber’s water towers 2023

The leading trade journal in Sweden, VA-tidskriften Cirkulation has since 1998 an article series under the heading Ebers vattentorn (Eber’s water towers), where Eber Ohlsson with text and photo presents interesting water towers in the world (except Scania and Sweden). Below is a free translation to English of these texts.

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 1/2023

A free translation to English:

In Gütersloh, a city in German North Rhine-Westphalia, the Prussian state railways built a 30 m high water tower in 1917 in reinforced concrete with a reservoir of 285 m3 to supply the steam locomotive with water. Next to the tower was the household appliance manufacturer Miele’s factory.

When the steam locomotives and the need for water disappeared for the railways in the 1950s and Miele’s factory simultaneously grew and enclosed the water tower, Miele leased the tower and water rights in 1959. They bought it in 2013, restored it for EUR 250,000 and repainted the tower in its colors, red and white. The water tower is now marked as a cultural monument.

Published 2023-02-08

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 2/2023

A free translation to English:

The reservoir part of the spherical water tower has a shape that makes them attractive to imitate berries and fruits. This applies not least to the steel water tower, which, apart from access, has easily painted surfaces. A small town that has adopt this is Poteet in southern Texas, 80 km south of San Antonio.

As Poteet calls itself the Texas strawberry capital, the reservoir part of the city’s water tower has been painted like a strawberry, with green petals on the top of the tower. A water tower that is 40 meters high. A strawberry festival is organized every year, which takes place in April, indicating the city’s southern location.

Published 2023-02-08

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 3/2023

A free translation to English:

In the military-politically important city of Metz in Lorraine, Germany, at the beginning of the last century, the Germans built a magnificent railway station with an associated water tower on the old Vauban fortifications. As Metz was only 17 km from the French border, the city was marked by the military, where the water tower would solve the water supply to both steam locomotives and the military’s horses during the troop movements.

The 38-meter-high water tower, designed in neo-Romanesque style by Kröger in Berlin and built in 1907-08, had a reservoir of 300 m3. In 1919, the city became French and the capital of the Lorraine region.

Published 2023-04-19

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 4/2023

A free translation to English:

Many cities in Industrial Revolution Britain grew very large, an expansion that required large-scale water supplies. If there were no good water sources in the immediate area, you had to look further afield. Liverpool then had to take their water from the 130 km away situated Lake Vyrnwy in Wales.

In the suburb of Runcorn, upstream from Liverpool and south of the River Mersey, a red sandstone water tower, 30 m high with a diameter of 25 m and with a cast iron reservoir of 3,000 m3, was built in 1888-92 as part of the pipeline. It was designed by George F. Deacon and has a frieze with a Latin inscription.

Published 2023-05-31

Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 5/2023

A free translation to English:

In the Dutch town of Schoonhoven, located between Utrecht and Rotterdam, was there built in 1901 a 50 m high engine house and water tower designed by architect F A de Jongh in Dutch renaissance style. The lower house is cross-shaped, and there are at ground level an engine room, and above it a machinist residence.

There above is there an octagonal tower having a reservoir of 150 m3. The tower was operational until 1982, and then sold to a foundation which restored the tower. The building now houses two silver smithies. For the price of the Dutch currency one guilder, as the foundation gave, became there a lot of silver.

Published 2023-08-30