Water Towers

Following a U.S. highway for a reasonable distance will just about always take one past those mammoth structures we call water towers. They are essential to every modern municipal water system and therefore incredibly common which causes them to be frequently taken for granted and overlooked. These structures have an incredibly long history which can be traced back as far as the Romans, Greeks and even King Solomon. However, before we explore the history, let's take a look at how exactly these towers work.

Because the most emblematic style of water towers is the man-made elevated reservoir we will begin by examining the functional aspects of that particular style.

This diagram shows water being pumped up (typically to a height of 120 feet) where it is collected in a large holding tank high above the nearby structures. The reason for this is that water which then drains from the bottom becomes pressurized by the weight of the water above it, enabling it to travel back up and in to homes and out of faucets, shower heads, etc. This style is best suited for areas where there is little variation in elevation and the landscape is generally flat. It should also be noted that the larger of the two pipes which connect to the water tower is the output, or pressurized water.

Another style which may be familiar to some is simply a giant tank on a hill:

Essentially the same concept without the tower stilts.

Why water towers?
Water towers essentially fulfill two needs in a water system: to provide a community or building with a reserve supply of water in case of emergency and, as previously discussed, to pressurize. Having a large reserve of water is useful in case of emergency (such as power outages and fires) and for handling "peak" times of water usage - i.e. morning and evening... or half time during the Super Bowl!


These are not the only forces which affect the way water towers look. In order to further explore the reasons that water towers look the way they do, let us consider those that have been tucked away high above the streets in New York City:

Notice how all of these towers are made from wood. The alternative is steel, but wood is less conductive of heat which enables the water reservoir to stay cooler in the summer and less likely to freeze in the winter. Additionally, steel tanks are much harder to maintain due to rusting. Some people swear by the wooden tanks because, they claim, the water tastes better too. This solution is relatively low-tech and thus has a long history as a pervasive style.

Although water towers are popular in NYC, they are remarkably absent from other American cities. Electric pumps are used in their stead, but are incompatible with New York's older infrastructure.

 Another structure relating to water pressure that is also referred to as a water tower is a water standpipe. standpipes were used to equalize pressure and stabilize water flow in the system. They became outdated once rotary pumps (something like this) began to be widely used in municipal water systems in the very early 20th century. These structures were often well decorated landmarks such as the famous Chicago water tower:

Only 7 of the roughly 500 water tower stand pipes which used to exist in the United States still stand today; three of them are located in St. Louis. This is really rather unfortunate since they were usually beautiful structures:

Real Life Stilgoe

While reading Stilgoes essay I was particularly interested in this portion:

Along some leafy street, surrounded by houses, sits a quarter acre of steel and copper transformers painted green or black, a dozen gray cabinets securely locked and decorated with bright yellow warning stickers, perhaps a pole or two, always one fitted with bright lights

Well, whaddya know, East Aurora has a place almost exactly like this! I've always found this militantly fenced off area to be sort of creepy and for that reason it has a very fond place in my memory. I took this picture as a result of reading the article:

A bit blurry, but I think it captures the feeling of the lot very well. I was surprised by how accurately Stilgoe described the setting and makeup.

Second Stories

For the task of considering second stories on commercial street I chose to examine one of my favorite places in Buffalo: Allentown. Though it's reputation is heavily predicated upon it's nightlife, I believe that this particular neighborhood has an energy that is very distinct from, say, Hertel or Chippewa.

Here is a Google Maps link for those who may be unfamiliar with the area:

Allentown, Buffalo

Now that we know where we are, let's move on to what we can see!

This is the south-west corner of Elmwood and Allen. The most obvious feature of the second story is periodic extension of apartments beyond the space of the second floor which creates an overhang above the sidewalk. The inaccessibility and plainness of these dwellings suggest that they are apartments (along with the giant "Apt. For Rent sign which adorns the north side of the building). The spacing and formation of the architecture on the outside can also provide many clues about the inside. For instance, it's reasonable to infer that the apartments are roughly the same in size and composition. The small windows which punctuate the side suggest either bathrooms or stairwells, both of which probably mark the beginning or end of each apartment.

Another interesting aspect of the second floor is that it can contextualize the shops of the first floor. The first floor is composed of a few different shops, but the styling of the second floor that they are all apart of one contiguous space.

The second floor of the shops is... non existent... at least in the space directly above the buildings. What we see here is the extension of homes right up to the side walk of Allen St.. The second floor is present, but recessed and uniform in style with the back portion of the commercial area. These probably also serve as living space but a very different from the composition of the last building we looked at. It is interesting how these buildings have evolved to serve a different or hybrid purpose (commercial and residential).