Water tower

ArchitectKönigliche Eisenbahndirektion, Kattowitz

Construction1912–1913

AddressDr. Edvarda Beneše, near the railway station

The water tower is a unique technical monument in the town. It was built together with the station building and a pair of neighbouring houses for railway workers (Na Včelínku). The plans for all the buildings came from the design office of the Directorate of the Prussian Royal Railways (Königliche Eisenbahndirektion) in Katowice. Unlike the more rustic station building in the spirit of the Heimatstil, the tower is a bold combination of modern reinforced-concrete construction with Neo-Baroque reminiscences in the mansard roof with dormers. From a low base rises a cylindrical shaft with an internal spiral staircase leading to an enlarged, octagonally shaped upper stage housing the water reservoir. What makes it distinctive is the eight reinforced-concrete supports, which – unlike in Kravaře, Chałupki, and Vladislav – stand separately rather than clasping the base of the shaft. The tower is 15 m high. The 50 m3 tank is on the third floor. Water was pumped by a nearby wind-powered pump next to the railway station. The equipment was supplied by the Saxon firm Vereinigte Windturbinenwerke, G. m. b. H. Dresden-Niedersedlitz.

Other secular monuments in Hlučín