watertoren Utrecht Lauwerhof

The watertoren Utrecht Lauwerhof stands 39 metres tall in central Utrecht. It is a neo-Renaissance water tower from the end of the nineteenth century. Before it stood, the city drew drinking water from pumps, wells and canals that also carried sewage, and cholera outbreaks followed. After several epidemics, Utrecht set up the Netherlands' first Health Commission in 1855, and piped water followed in 1883. It ran fifteen kilometres from Soestduinen, a system that relied on a fifty-metre drop and a steam-powered pumping station.

As more households tapped the network, steady pressure became hard to hold. UWM built the city's first water tower, starting in 1895, in the backyard of its director, P.E. Rijk. Architect L.C. Dumont drew the plans, and contractor Dessing from Gouda raised it for 46,800 guilders. Thirty metres up sits the Intze reservoir from the German firm F.A. Neumann. It holds 1,500 cubic metres, the largest tank of its kind in the country.

The tower worked until 1983, its reservoir then standing by as a backup. For over twenty-five years the Waterleidingmuseum told the story of Dutch drinking water here. It closed in 2010 when sponsor Vitens pulled its funding, and the collection moved to the Nederlands Watermuseum in Arnhem. Caron real estate bought the protected rijksmonument in 2016 and turned it into three studio apartments, keeping many original features. The ground floor serves meetings and training sessions. Above the apartments hangs the tank that once kept pressure steady for the whole city.