Still standing after 125 years Weehawken improves Water Tower and district

Rising 175 feet in the air, the Weehawken Water Tower has been a source of pride for over 100 years.

Originally built by the Hackensack Water Company in 1883 to supply gravity-lured water to the residents of the surrounding metropolitan area, the water tower has been closed for business since 1978.

But thanks to the efforts of the Weehawken community and town government, a restoration project has been in the works since 1999.

According to Alane Finnerty, director of historic preservation and economic development in Weehawken, the tower, which was designed by Frederick Clarke Withers, was modeled after the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

Preserving history

Over the course of two years, the committee studied the property to see how to first stabilize the tower and also the right team of architects for the restoration. Three to four town engineers did extensive studies of the property the exterior, as well as major inspections of the interior.

“They found [the tower] was thoroughly [populated] with thousands of pigeons that lived there for over 20 years,” said Finnerty.

The floors were rotted through due to the pigeon dung, and workers wearing protective gear were lowered down on a scaffold to remove the dung.

As for the tank, engineers had a very big surprise.

“The volume of it is staggering,” said Finnerty. “We believed it was drained, but the original roof was slate, which has been restored to slate and copper.”

However, at the time there were only shingles over the slate roof, which still allowed for leakage. When the town reacquired the building in 1999 there was water in the tank that had to be drained.

“Thank God we had scaffolding up,” said Finnerty. “It came down in the dead of winter and it all froze. Fortunately we were ready for it.”

The extensive study and design took about two years before work began on the building by Holt-Morgan-Russell Architects of Princeton, with Eric Holterman as lead architect.

The repairs and restorations to the exterior of the tower, which is 17 stories high with 4 foot thick walls and a 25 square feet base, took an additional two years.

The committee had seven members and included Councilwoman Rosemary Lavagnino, who was the liaison for the committee.

“It’s been a great community effort,” said Turner. “It took many people, many volunteers and tremendous coordination.”

The renovations were funded with a $212,000 grant from the Hudson County Open Space, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

In the last two years, the Water Tower Park was also built along the base of the tower, and was funded by a $500,000 grant from the state Department of Treasury. The park was designed by Steven Schwamb of Elysian Fields Landscape Design in Ridgefield.

“The water tower park has been very popular with the residents,” said Finnerty.

Next phase

The next phase is the restoration of the interior, which the town is currently looking into funding sources.

“The tower has a variety of different uses,” said Turner. “The problem with the interior of the building is access.”

“We have been fortunate to do the exterior and improve it as a historic site, but the interior you need two means of ingress,” he said. “To make it for public use you need two means for people to get in and out of the building.”

Among some of the necessities to make the building useable is new stairs and elevators for handicapped accessibility, as well as proper ventilation for air conditioning and heating, and lavatory facilitates.

According to Turner, the tower ultimately will be used for many purposes, such as additional office space, a museum, a site for historic society, or a combination of many things.

“There are many options under discussion,” said Finnerty. “[From all of us] there is a commitment not only to preserve this iconic building, but we would love to see it live again and have a purpose.”

At the moment the council is thinking about getting funding to at least start repairs on the first and second floors of the building, which would be more easily accessible.

“In the short term the Historical Society is submitting a proposal to make the first floor useable for the [upcoming] 150th anniversary of the township,” said Turner.

The anniversary of the township will be celebrated next year by several events. The mayor, council and the historical society have been working on the possibility of opening the site, to have residents view pieces of Weehawken’s past, such as photographs and other memorabilia.

“It’s one of the things we will be exploring; at least to start the process of encouraging use of the building,” said Turner. “If we can use the first and second floor it will be the first time in about 30 to 40 years that it has been used.”

However, no matter what the future use will be, the tower will continue to stand.

“It’s part of the town’s history,” said Turner. “It is a landmark and you can see it from almost every location in town. As we improve Park Avenue it is becoming the center of that improvement. It adds more light and beautification to Park Avenue.”

“If the Empire State Building is the symbol of New York than the water tower is the symbol of Weehawken,” said Finnerty.

Comments on this can be sent to: current@hudsonreporter.com.

“At the present it has been absolutely stabilized on the exterior and restored.” – Alane Finnerty

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