Cuxhaven water tower, Water tower in Cuxhaven, Germany.
The Cuxhaven water tower at Bahnhofstraße 11 is a 48 m red-brick tower built in 1897. A four-storey shaft rises to an overhanging tank head holding 900 cbm, capped by a curved tent roof of green copper with a small dormer and a chimney. Cornices and segmental-arched windows divide the facades, and a round-arch frieze closes the brick casing of the tank.
The tower began supplying water to Cuxhaven in 1897, at a time when the city was growing and needed a reliable water network. It stayed in operation for nearly a century before being decommissioned in 2004.
The tower is a familiar landmark for people who live in Cuxhaven, recognized from many streets in the surrounding area. Its brick silhouette stands out against the rooftops and gives the neighborhood a sense of continuity with the past.
The tower stands at Bahnhofstraße 11 in the city centre. It is not a closed building: a café operates inside and three holiday apartments occupy the former tower, so visitors can enter during café hours. The exterior is best viewed from a little distance to take in the full height and the green copper roof.
The tower's tank held 900 cubic metres of water, and its 80-centimetre-thick walls carried more than 900 tonnes. From about 1970 the gravity pressure no longer sufficed for the taller buildings, which had to be fitted with booster pumps. The tower was taken out of service in 2004 and sold in 2017.
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