Taastrup Water Tower is a defunct

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

Taastrup Taastrup () is a Danish railway town or/and suburb of Copenhagen - 15 km west of the capital's city centre, and formerly the administrative seat of Høje-Taastrup Municipality, Region Hovedstaden. It takes its name from the village of T ...

, a western suburb of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. The distinctive structure now serves as an

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

and local landmark, readily visible when approaching Copenhagen from the west along

Roskildevej Roskildevej is a road between Copenhagen and Roskilde in the Danish capital area. The direct continuation of Vesterbrogade, which begins at Copenhagen's City Hall Square, the road begins at Pile Allé and continues through Frederiksberg, Valby, R� ...

History

The water tower was built in 1908 to a design by the architect Andreas Fussing as part of the local Taastrup waterworks. In 1977 it was considered to demolish the structure but instead it was decided to renovate it. The rest of the buildings at the site was demolished in 1997 but the water tower was once again spared. A society for the preservation of the water tower was founded in 2003. They raised funds for another renovation of the building and in 2009 it opened its doors to the public as an Observation tower. It is open the first Saturday every month from April through October from 11-13.

Architecture

The water tower is designed in the

National Romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

style with inspiration from Medieval architecture. Built in a red brick, the cylindrical tower stands 32 metres high and has a diameter of 6 metres at its base. The uppermost part has

timber framing Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

. On three sides, four windows, arranged one over the other, provides natural light for the internal staircase.

References

External links

Official website
(in Danish)

Scanian Water Tower Society {{coord, 55.6482, 12.2977, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Water towers in Copenhagen Buildings and structures in Høje-Taastrup Municipality Infrastructure completed in 1908 Towers completed in 1908 National Romantic architecture in Copenhagen Art Nouveau industrial buildings 1908 establishments in Denmark