Eber’s water towers 2020

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 1/2020

A free translation to English:

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret was born in 1887 in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. He became a self-taught architect, who in 1916 moved to Paris. The following year he was commissioned by a friend who owned the castle Château Chavat on the river Garonne to draw a water tower for the castle’s water supply in the town of Podensac, 3 km south of Bordeaux.

It became a 25 m high tower, which under the 80 m³ reservoir was given a room with high French windows. The water tower was taken out of operation in 1940, but still stands today, now adjacent to a larger and higher municipal water tower. Charles-Edouard is more known by the artist name Le Corbusier.

Published 2020-02-05


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 2/2020

A free translation to English:

Of the water’s three phases, it is the liquid phase that applies to water towers. The risk for that the water shall transform into the solid phase, ice, is only possible if the temperature goes below zero degrees Celsius, and water flux is small. By contrast, the third phase, steam, ought to do not occur under normal natural conditions.

On cold summer nights, steam comes from the spout of the water tower in the Swedish town of Lindstrom in Minnesota in the United States, a tower which was in operation from 1902 to 1990. However, it is a conscious created steam because the water tower is shaped like a teapot with handle and spout.

Published 2020-03-11


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 3/2020

A free translation to English:

The railway water tower in the Westphalian city of Bielefeld in Germany is an iconic building for those with model trains as a hobby. The explanation is that a large manufacturer of buildings and other accessories for model railways have decided to make a model of this particular water tower.

The large tower was originally a detail-rich water tower from 1906, with brick facade and lots of windows under the spherical reservoir, a reservoir form common in the German railways. Now, the windows are bricked up and the former glory has faded. So anyone who wants to see how the tower once looked must study the model.

Published 2020-04-15


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 4/2020

A free translation to English:

Every era has its architectural style and significant for the interwar period is the art deco style. It’s also a style that the water tower in Aalsmeer has. The tower, which was built in 1926-28, stands 15 kilometers south of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, at the edge of the lake Westeinderplassen, which is an old peat cutting.

The 50-meter high water tower is the work of Hendrik Sangster, who also has designed several other water towers. The tower, with reservoirs at 520 and 480 m³, was decommissioned in 1994 and is now culturally protected and considered as one of the most beautiful water towers of the Netherlands. It is open for visits a few times a year.

Published 2020-06-03


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 5/2020

A free translation to English:

Berdorf in Luxembourg, Bäerderf in Lëtzebuerg in the country’s language, is a small town that got its first water tower in 1901, a tower that was destroyed in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. When the church tower was destroyed in a fire in 1941, they were both replaced with a new combined church and water tower in 1951.

In 2015, a new 56 meter high water tower, Aquatower, was ready, with a reservoir of 500 m³, where there are also exhibition and viewing rooms, all at a cost of 6.5 MEUR. You can visit the tower for a fee and get information about water and geology as well as a panoramic view. Outside the tower are water play equipment.

Published 2020-08-26


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 6/2020

A free translation to English:

WaterTower Music is an American record label named after the movie company Warner Bros. iconic water tower, standing on the company’s studio area in Burbank, north of Hollywood in the USA. Warner Bros. is also the owner of the record label.

The water tower is, in a more sophisticated measuring system than foot and gallon, 30 meters high and can accommodate 380 m³. It was built in 1926 next to the studios’ fire brigade, but was later moved when, after an earthquake in 1933, it was realized that the tower could fall down in the future and damage the fire station. The tower is now empty of water and has been declared a historic attraction.

Published 2020-09-29


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 7/2020

A free translation to English:

At the highest point in the town of Steele in the German Ruhr area, a water tower with a brick tower shaft and a 1,000 m3 riveted steel reservoir were built in 1898. Perhaps the steel came from Krupp-Werke, one of the financiers of the 1864 waterworks in Steele. Krupp was based in Essen, a town of Steele was merged with 1929.

Curious is that both Steeles and Krupp’s weapons were three intertwined rings, despite different histories. The tower was taken out of operation in 1986 and became a building memory in 1987. After the sale, the tower was thoroughly renovated and received 32 new windows. Here it first became a gallery until 2006 and then office for an IT company.

Published 2020-11-04


Eber’s water towers in Cirkulation 8/2020

In modern Danish “øl” stand for “beer”, “god” stand for “good” and “gud” stand for “god”.

A free translation to English:

Ølgod is a Danish society in West Jutland. The word “øl” is an old Danish word for “sanctuary” and the word “god” [gud] stand for “god”. “Ølgod” does not mean good beer, even if beer is worshiped in Denmark. In this station community, a 28 meter high water tower was constructed in reinforced concrete in 1914, designed by the well known water tower designer G. R. Øllegaard.

The tower, which was popularly called “The upright pipe”, was taken out of operation in 1971. After renovation in 1990, it was transferred to the Ølgod Museum. The association “Friends of the Water Tower” secures its future, a tower that became Ølgod’s official mark when it turned 100 years.

Published 2020-12-09


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