If you like getting high, the city of St. Louis is blessed with many places to do it. There's the Gateway Arch and the corinithan standpipe in Water Tower Park and the Compton Hill Water Tower which is now open to the public every Saturday from April to November 2009.
Now it's called a water tower but it is in fact a standpipe but we're not going to be too purist about this fine example of French Romanesque architecture. Once over 400 such water towers (& standpipes) punctuated the skylines of American cities and towns. St. Louis can claim three of the seven remaining in the United States. All St. Louis' water towers have been declared Historical Landmarks.
image from wikipedia
The Compton Hill Water Tower at Grand and Russell Boulevards was opened for service in 1899. At 179 feet, the towe dominates South Grand Boulevard. The tower had to be closed to the public in 1984 when it was discovered that asbestos surrounded the metal tank in the tower's core. For more than ten years the water tower stood untouched and deterioration took over.More information about the tower here http://stlouis.missouri.org/comptonhill/tower.html
More info about the openings:
Tower Openings - The Water Tower and Park Preservation Society, Compton Hill Water Tower, Saint Louis Missouri
No comments:
Post a Comment