Favoriten Water-tower

The water tower in Vienna’s Favoriten district is a peculiarly grand building built for a mundane purpose. Yet after being abandoned it was turned into a lookout tower, a museum, and eventually a cultural venue / exhibition space.

During the course of the 19th century Vienna witnessed the Industrial Revolution, the taming of the Danube, the razing of the old city walls, and a doubling of its population. By 1890 there were 1.4 million inhabitants and Favoriten pumping station was built to supply water to this burgeoning population, Designed by Franz Borkowitz in 1889 it was part of municipal scheme to bring alpine spring water to the capital from the Rax and Schneeberg mountains 75 kilometres southwest of Vienna.

By 1900 there were 1.7 million people in the city increasing to an all-time high of more than 2 million by 1910. The necessary creation of other more effective water facilities around the city (including a new pipeline all the way from the province of Styria) meant inevitably that the increasingly inadeqate Favoriten pumping station would be abondoned.

Of the seven original structures that made up the station only the tower remains. Rising 67 metres into the air it can be seen from miles around, due in part to it being situated on high ground so that gravity could assist the water flow. Built of red brick it has an air of military strength about it and indeed as ‘’cultural property’’ (according to a plaque outside) it is protected by the Hague Convention in the event of war. Its yellow and red brick walls have stone corbels and leaded lights incorporated into them, all toped off with a roof of polychrome tiles and a church-;ike onion-shaped dome. Over its huge wooden doors are the words ‘’Wasserwerk der Stadt Wien’’ inscribed in gold.

Today the tower has been restored superbly and the interior, with its upward spiralling metal ramp, houses occasional temporary exhibitions. Most noteworthy is the original pumping equipment that can still be seen in its original state.