Drummoyne Reservoir, Heritage water reservoir in Drummoyne, Australia.
Drummoyne Reservoir is a decommissioned elevated service reservoir on Rawson Avenue: a circular riveted steel tank 80 feet in diameter and 40 feet high, formed of seven rings of steel plate, resting on a reinforced concrete slab carried by an outer ring of arched concrete columns and an inner grid of steel stanchions and girders. A square campanile-like tower with a wide overhanging roof stands attached to its front, holding the stairway to the tank top.
Engineer J. G. S. Purvis designed the facility for the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage and it operated from 1913 onward. It was decommissioned in 1994 after serving Sydney's water needs for over eight decades.
The water storage facility marks a moment when Sydney needed new infrastructure to support its growing population. Its classical column design and concrete tower became a recognizable landmark in the local neighborhood.
The reservoir stands on Rawson Avenue in Drummoyne, on the higher ground above the suburb. It was disconnected from the water system in 1994 and has been disused since the mid-1990s; Sydney Water sold the property in September 2018 to owners of a childcare chain, so the grounds are not open as a public attraction. The structure is best seen from the street.
The square tower attached to the tank was ornamental: Sir Thomas Henley, four times mayor of Drummoyne, had heard Bellevue Hill reservoir was to get a tower and did not want his suburb's reservoir to look second best. Bellevue Hill's tower, however, was built at the request of military authorities for use as a lookout and semaphore signal relay station.
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