Water tower at Darmstadt Central Station
The water tower is a listed building in Darmstadt .
history
The water tower was built between 1910 and 1912 as part of the new construction of Darmstadt Central Station next to the Dornheim Bridge, which was built around the same time . The building was designed by the architect Friedrich Mettegang , who worked as a construction officer at the Mainz Railway Directorate .
The construction is similar to that of Darmstadt main station, it served to supply the station and the locomotives stationed there with water and housed signal box IV. The tower shaft consists of plastered brickwork. The steel water tank open at the top, a hemispherical loft container based on the construction principle of Georg Barkhausen , carries the wooden structure for the slate roof. A special feature is the signal box integrated in the tower, the control of which was not operated mechanically, as usual, but pneumatically . The combination of water tower and signal box has existed four times in Germany, of which only the Darmstadt water tower still exists as a technical monument. The signal box was replaced by a new central signal box in 1972 and with the end of the steam locomotive era in Darmstadt in 1975, the water tower was finally obsolete. It was supposed to be demolished in 1978.
The demolition scaffolding was already in place when Darmstadt's citizens became aware of the demolition plan. The State Office for Monument Preservation placed the tower on August 8, 1978 under monument protection.
The musician, composer and architect Albrecht Pfohl bought the tower from the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1986 and saved the technical monument from demolition. In 2003 the water tower was renovated with the support of the State of Hesse and the City of Darmstadt and restored to a monumental condition. A painter's studio is located in the former boiler room; the other floors are used for events.
literature
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse in cooperation with the City of Darmstadt's Magistrate (ed.): City of Darmstadt. (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , cultural monuments in Hesse. ) Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig et al. 1994, ISBN 3-528-06249-5 , p. 567.
Web links
- History of the water tower ( Memento from February 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Karl Assmann, Wolfgang Bleiweis: Railway junction Darmstadt through the ages. 7 stations on 7 routes. Roßdörfer Eisenbahn Club eV, Roßdorf 1987.
- ^ The water tower on the side of the monument preservation Hessen
Coordinates: 49 ° 52 ′ 30.9 " N , 8 ° 37 ′ 49.2" E