|
All photos appearing in this article are either in the public domain or are © Roger Shepherd. |
 he medieval style tower that stands
today at 41st Street and Park Avenue in Weehawken, New Jersey was designed
in the early 1880s by the eminent architect of the Gothic Revival, Frederick
Clarke Withers. Originally rising above a four-acre
reservoir, this unique structure was an unusual solution to a very unusual
challenge. It was both an office building and an elevated water storage
tank. While housing water company offices, it supplied clean water, under
pressure, for drinking, cooking and bathing, and ample water for fire
fighting and industry. These were conveniences that significantly contributed
to the economic growth of the area. The tower was once called "the
most important structure of its kind in the country." In 1980 the Weehawken Water Tower was declared a National Landmark.
THE CHALLENGE The opening of the Hackensack Water Company's new Weehawken Office on September 29, 1883 was a major event. The tower was cited for its innovation and design by professional journals and magazines. In the mid-nineteenth century, indoor plumbing was quite a luxury. Residents of cities took water from pumps in the streets; pumps they frequently shared with livestock. Factories poured waste into nearby streams and rivers. Privies and cesspools seeped into old, deteriorating pipelines. As a result typhoid reached epidemic proportions in the last half of the century. By the 1880's, a growing awareness of personal hygiene, together with advancements in technology, brought about a dramatic increase in the construction of improved waterworks systems throughout the United States. To bring clean water to Hoboken, a pumping station was constructed and a pipeline brought Hackensack River water 14 miles to a new reservoir. The results were prompt but only partially successful. While water flowed easily from the reservoir down to Hoboken, which is at sea level, there was insufficient water pressure for customers at higher elevations just north of the city. So, a site was chosen for another reservoir atop the cliffs of the Palisades in Highwood Park (present-day Weehawken). It was then that plans were discussed for increasing the water pressure even more by elevating it an additional 175 feet above the street -- over 300 feet above sea level -- creating a "reservoir in the air." However costly, the Hackensack Water Company seized the opportunity to dramatize its success by constructing a monument befitting the image of a private utility that would soon grow to be the largest in the country. The company made plans to move their main headquarters to the site of the new Highwood Park Reservoir and to construct a tower that could accommodate their spacious new offices as well as a massive water storage tank.
THE ARCHITECT The central figure in the history of the Weehawken Water Tower is its architect Frederick Clarke Withers. Harper's Weekly described him as "a man of exceptional talent . . . insistent upon an adherence to the highest ideals . . . [and] no lack of imagination." Well known as designer of churches, he was capable of combining the latest engineering practices with the highest building standards. In 1852, Withers emigrated from England to the United States to work as assistant to Andrew Jackson Downing, President of the Bureau of Architects in Newburgh, New York. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he volunteered for service and received a commission as a lieutenant in the First New York Engineers -- adding invaluable engineering experience to his architectural expertise. Following his military service, Withers moved his practice to New York City where he became renowned for his church designs.
THE STYLE The most enduring monument to Withers is the Jefferson Market Courthouse and Jail which currently houses the Greenwich Village branch of the New York Public Library. It is an ingenious organization of spaces compacted into an odd, triangular site. A bell tower in the corner commands a view up and down Sixth Avenue in New York City. Withers incorporated the functions of police court, district court, and fire observatory in a structure which many consider his masterpiece. The American Architect & Building News of April 1887 said, "the success [of the courthouse] assigns its author a very high rank as an architect" and a poll of 1885 considered the Jefferson Market Courthouse one of the "ten best buildings in America." The Jefferson Market Courthouse, completed in 1874, was a high point in Withers' career. It was more complicated than any of his earlier buildings and eloquently represents his later ideas. The complex and varied roof shapes, including dormers and towers, the changes in color resulting from contrasting bands of brickwork and stone, the variation in window arches, were elements inspired by the English critic John Ruskin. Through his writings, John Ruskin exerted an unparalleled influence on art and architecture in the last half of the nineteenth century. Withers was sustained by the philosophy of Ruskin who extolled the ideals of "truth,'' "honesty," and "reality" in building. Ruskin believed that decoration should be consistent with the structural realities of architecture, not merely applied to its surface. He believed that the design of a building must declare its purpose, the logic of its plan, the nature of its construction, and the qualities of its materials. By the 1880's the High Victorian Gothic Style was on the way out: the era of the skyscraper was near at hand. In what would be one of his last major undertakings, Withers devotion to Gothic would have to be adapted to utility. The task confronting Withers was to elevate a cylindrical, iron tank, 30 feet in diameter -- a tank that could hold 165,000 gallons of water and would weigh over 650 tons when filled. In addition, his clients wanted four unobstructed levels of useable space beneath the tank.
YESTERDAY Throughout history, towers have been symbols of civic pride. Rising from castles, town halls, churches and cathedrals, they proclaimed their importance, dominating town squares, and focusing city life. The Weehawken Water Tower draws on the tradition of the medieval town halls of Europe. The most renowned of these is probably the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. The simple, basic shape of this masonry structure with its lofty tower undoubtedly appealed to the mature Withers. At that time, the most advanced waterworks systems in the world were in Germany and England. Occasionally their tanks were disguised in masonry towers. But they were only a fraction of the size of the proposed Weehawken tank and rested on inner supports while the outer walls were nothing but decorative shells. These towers never fully functioned as buildings.
THE SOLUTION In contrast to the European models, Withers innovative solution was a milestone in industrial architecture. He rejected the decorative elements of Gothic while focusing on its more fundamental structural aspects. His plan fused Gothic arches into the structure of the building in such a way that the weight of the tank was evenly distributed downwards -- borne by the 3 foot thick tower walls. This unconventional use of Gothic arches was hailed by leading journals of the time as a great "advantage over any scheme of iron trussing or beams." From outside, the tank is seen as a separate element, distinctly different from the more slender shaft of the office stories. Its larger volume is supported on the exterior by corbelled arches. Its surfaces are uninterrupted except by patterns in the brickwork inspired by Venetian architecture, a style popular in Victorian building. Horizontal terra cotta stringcourses mark off the stories below the tank. The windows narrow at each level, emphasizing the building's height and drawing attention to its massive top. Such definite clues to the tower's function would never have been considered in the heyday of the Gothic Revival. Once completed, the tower lived up to its architect's ideals. In the pointed arches that support the tank, Withers retained a true Gothic spirit. By avoiding superfluous ornament, he made no attempt to disguise the true nature of the tower: it honestly expresses its purpose while performing its function. Withers said, "If we would that our works should live after us, and in succeeding generations be looked upon with interest, we must work with TRUTH; we must let this be our motto, ignoring all shams whatever." The venture proved an all-round success. In less than three years since its inception the plan brought clean, running water to tens of thousands of grateful citizens. Ironically, the reservoir soon contributed to its own obsolescence. By encouraging development of the high areas along the Palisades, it could not continue to meet the growing demands of these burgeoning communities. By 1900, the expanding water company moved to larger offices adjacent to the tower. By the 1920's with water coming from a new reservoir of even greater capacity, the tank was emptied. Less than 50 years after its construction, this outstanding example of industrial architecture had become a symbol of a bygone era.
TODAY In the late 1970s, a handful of concerned citizens fought hard to save the entire complex from demolition. They succeeded in having it designated a landmark, included on the National Register of Historic Places. Nevertheless, when the property was sold in 1981, the gate-house, the reservoir, and the adjoining buildings were demolished. The tower alone was spared to stand silently, surrounded by a sprawling shopping mall and parking lot. Today, while sealed from public access, the empty tower is by no means immune to continued deterioration. The elements wear at the structure inside as well as out. Ruskin's plea, "when we build, let us think that we build forever," can only hold if we continue to care. Without community concern and perpetual care the tower will someday sadly disappear from our lives.
|
The
tower c. 1900.
The reservoir c. 1920.
ubscribe
to Architectural Record.