NYC Water Tanks

scott w.

A house in the village where I live built in 1900 by a man named Frazee. All of the material for the house was hauled from town by oxen and wagon twelve miles away. It was the first house to have a bathroom. The water supply for the house was a spring up on the hill behind the house. On the third floor attic was a large tank that held the water from the spring. It was a gravity flow system.The spring was higher than the third floor tank. The house was sold out of the family for years until the great grandaughter of the builder purchased it about 10 years ago. When the great grand daughter investigated the tank (made em nervous all that water in the attic)it was found to be a lead lined tank!

Albert Huntermark

NYC Water Tanks

Fellow Wallies from New York City, I am wrapping up one of the best vacations that I have ever had in my life, my first ever visit to your great city! I got to attend a teacher's conference with my wife. Anyway the teacher needed the plumber to answer a question for her! and I didn't have the answer! Are the old water tanks on the roofs of some of the buildings that are made of wood lined with anything, or are they just like big wooden barrels? Not just my wife, but I am curious too! Back home in Pittsburgh, I have been involved with the removal of a couple of high rise tanks, but they were inside the building, square, and made of plate steel. On a few of our downtown buildings, only the platforms remain from the water tanks. The old tanks looked pretty cool on your buildings! New York is a great place!

DanHolohan

Just wood

and they last for a very, very long time. Glad you enjoyed yourself!

Paul Fredricks_3

I've always found these tanks interesting. They seem to be out of place in the modern city.

As far as I know they are just wood. I can't imagine that they would be lined with anything. When the wood gets wet it swells and seals any drips, like an old wooden boat. I'd love to know how thick the wood is, if it ever has to be replaced and what type of wood it is. I also wonder how many of these old tanks are still in use. I bet a lot aren't, but the logistics in removing them would make it advantageous to leave them there.

DanHolohan

Here's somd good reading:

Tanks

Paul Fredricks_3

You are the answer man. Thanks Dan

Mad Dog_2

NO!

They are much like a rain barrell...curved planks of wood bound together with steel hoops. When they are initially installed and filled with water they leak like a Son-of-a-gun. After 24 hours or so, they swell up and stop leaking. There are only a few companies in Manhattan and the 5 Boros that construct and maintain them....ALL are MId to late 1800s and going strong. One that comes to mind is Rosenwach. I know City Dwellers whom have swum in them and worse. Also, negelcted ones often become home for Pigeons and other vermin. Mad Dog

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Tombig_2

Second City Input

'Hizzoner da mare', Richard M. Daley, mayor of Chicago, not to be confused with his Dad, Richard J., last year announced a contest to determimine WHAT to do with all the abandoned water towers thruout the city. He posed the question specifically to artists and architects. The answer is still forthcoming. I've heard of aviaries and atriums. Lofts and lookouts. Solar storage and cistern watersheds.


I see too many empty platforms where these wonderful storage tanks used to reside. Kudos to my mayor for addressing the question.....now, if it would only be answered.

JoeV

I remember

...when I was in high school, my father was a building superintendant in Manhattan and he gave me a summer job as an elevator man. The building needed a new tank and someone from Rosenwach came in to give an estimate. He was full of pride as he explained how the tanks were made between puffs of a stinky cigar. When the job was done, he gave my mother a cheese cutting board made of squares of redwood (and I suppose cedar) from scrap wood in the shop.

nick_7

i work in midtown Manhattan. Recently a tall glass ultra modern new office building went up outside my window. On top, now circled with glass, is a brand new totally wood old-style water tank with the classic conical roof.

Albert Huntermark

Thanks All.

Thanks All. I just got off the phone with my wife, she returns tomorrow! She thanks you too! More me though! Dan that was an interesting article on the the tanks, I thank you for finding it! Can't wait to come back to NYC. I was amazed at the size of the city. It could be a state of it's own! My wife got a picture of me eating at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, which I now have proudly displayed on my desk! I still can't believe I finally seen NYC!

Paul Fredricks_3

I live an hour outside the city and it still amazes me how big it is. Pittsburgh you can walk across in 15 minutes. New York, pack lunch and dinner.

Brad White_96

And this is one reason why

Rome collapsed... all those lead pipes...and cooking acidic foods in leaden pots. Dementia, general insanity, Caligula...Nero

Of course they also gave us the Latin word for lead, "Plumbum" (atomic symbol pb) from which we get "plumber".
Plumbers we all know beat the alchemists at turning lead into gold....

Late Friday Ramblings...