The wood that was used to finish the Swedish-inspired interior of the solarium at Sunnyfields, an historic farm in Millbrook, New York, has a secret. Or more accurately, a complicated past: its Reclaimed Redwood, which means that a very long time ago it grew in a coastal California forest. More recently, it was salvaged from the rooftop of a building in New York City, where it had likely been since the 1980s, and even in a city of 8.5 million people, it’s likely that one of just three small, family-run companies installed it. This is the world of New York City rooftop water tanks, those cylindrical structures that dot the skyline with their conical tops, easily seen through the window of a subway car outside Manhattan. Tourists and New Yorkers alike often assume they’ve fallen into disuse and have just remained on building tops as relics of another time, but in fact they still work, and tall buildings need them.
The Hudson Company team disassembles a decommissioned water tower atop the NYC skyline to salvage the cedar staves.
Photo by Gentl & Hyers.
Reclaimed Redwood from NYC water towers adorns the ceiling and doorframe of the solarium at Sunnyfields Farm in Millbrook, NY.
Architects: Di Biase Filkoff. Photo by Gentl & Hyers.
According to a brief history by Devin Gannon on the blog 6sqft, water towers were designed in the first quarter of the 20th century to help regulate water pressure in high-rise buildings, which were then being built all over New York City. The pressure on higher floors is too weak and on the lower floors unnecessarily strong, without some intervention, so tall buildings have what are known as “sequestered” water systems that even out the pressure from top to bottom. Tanks last about 30 years, and there are only three companies that build them: Isseks Brothers, Rosenwach Tank Company, and American Pipe and Tank. The oldest one is Rosenwach, which began as a small, Lower East Side barrel-making in the 1860s, founded by a craftsman named William Dalton. Dalton hired Harris Rosenwach as an assistant, and Rosenwach eventually bought the company, which has remained in the family ever since. The Isseks Brothers set up shop in the 1890s, and is run by brothers David and Scott Hochhauser. American Pipe and Tank is also family-run, and does fuel tank installation and repair in addition building water tanks.
Photos by Gentl & Hyers.
Why build them by hand, and why use wood? As Steven Silver of American Pipe and Tank told the New York Times back in 2012, “wood does very well outside. That is where it’s designed to be.” Most water tanks are made from cedar or redwood, and decommissioned tanks are the only place that reclaimed redwood can be found today. Wood is affordable, relatively lightweight, and it does a good job moderating temperatures year round. Water doesn’t freeze inside wood tanks, whereas it can freeze in a metal tank. Eventually the wood will need to be replaced, but that’s where salvage comes in: the New York City skyline’s loss can be someone else’s gain. At The Hudson Company, we use wood from both the interior and exterior faces of the tank. The exterior lengths are especially prized because the metal straps that hold them in place leave marks, which give the wood an industrial character that’s a little mysterious and difficult to place. The wood that made its way to the solarium in Sunnyfields has been useful and beautiful for many years already, and will be for many years to come.
Salvaged Water Tank Cedar, exterior face, shows the unique markings left by the metal straps that hold together the vertical staves.
Photo by Gentl & Hyers.
Stripes Group offices in NYC
Reclaimed Water Tank Cedar paneling.
Reclaimed Water Tank Cedar, Original and Interior Face.
Reclaimed Water Tank Cedar, Original Face.