Hanko's old water tower

The strongest appeals for clean water in Hanko? against communicable diseases? heard among the medical profession, the loudest being city doctors Wilhelm Snellman as early as 1889 and Sam Chydenius as early as 1897? 1917. The sewerage and water supply system gradually developed, and finally in 1910 the design of the Hanko water tower began. The same architect Waldemar Aspel, who had just drawn the extensions of the spa and casino, was invited to the task.

The strongest appeals for clean water in Hanko? against communicable diseases? heard among the medical profession, the loudest being city doctors Wilhelm Snellman as early as 1889 and Sam Chydenius as early as 1897? 1917. The sewerage and water supply system gradually developed, and finally in 1910 the design of the Hanko water tower began. The same architect Waldemar Aspel, who had just drawn the extensions of the spa and casino, was invited to the task.

From the very beginning, it was decided to build the water tower from durable materials: brick and granite. The height would be 30 meters and the volume of the water tank 400 m3. The frame was built with 178,000 sand-lime bricks and 105,000 red bricks brought from the Tvärminne brick factory. The tower was lined with granite. The wooden crabs spiraled around the inner wall of the tower.

When the building had only risen to 11 meters, Hanko Bladet's pachinist Charles reported on 10 September 1910: My dear friends, now only a third of the entire height of the tower has been built and yet it feels like cold shivers go through your whole body when you look at the world from up there. Now you can already see Russarö, not to mention Bengtskär, which you can almost touch. –. The view is already magnificent, but what will we see when the tower is finished. In the near future, we can call the Tammisaari fire tower and ask if the watchman would hurry away the fly sitting on his left cheek, and the mayor of the neighboring town could ask us to check if his tie is straight.

When the building had only risen to 11 meters, Hankö Bladet's packing operator Charles reported:

My dear friends, now only a third of the height of the tower has been built, and yet it feels like cold shivers go through the whole body when you look at the world from up there. Now you can already see Russarö, not to mention Bengtskär, which you can almost touch. –. The view is already magnificent, but what will we see when the tower is finished. In the near future, we can call the Tammisaari fire tower and ask if the watchman would hurry away the fly sitting on his left cheek, and the mayor of the neighboring town could ask us to check if his tie is straight.

Hankö Bladet 10.9.1910.

The people of Hanko who fled to Bromarvi during the Soviet occupation are said to have always looked after the explosions from the city to see if the church and water tower were still in place. The bombers did not hit the tower, but the Soviet Union blew up the water tower with a time bomb the day after its withdrawal on December 3, 1941.

The construction of a new water tower was one of the first reconstruction projects. Bertel Liljeqvist was called as the architect, who was also responsible for the drawings of the town hall and the central school. Concrete was chosen as the material. The height of the tower increased to 48 meters, the volume of the water tank to 490 cubic meters. The clock faces facing four directions are 2 meters in diameter. First, mermaid sculptures were planned for the ends of the columns, but for reasons of economy, they settled for the current shell decorations.

Text: Sampsa Laurinen

Photos: Hanko Museum.

Sources: Marketta Wall: Water for the people of Hanko, City of Hanko, 2005

This story has been produced with the support of the Svenska Kulturfonden.