The White Tower (Russian: Белая башня romanized: Belaya bashnya) is a constructivist monument and a former water tower of the Uralmash plant in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The tower was built in 1929–1931 by the architect Moisei Reisher and became one of the first reinforced concrete structures in the city. With the development of the city's water supply network in the 1960s, the tower was taken out of service, was not used for many years and fell into disrepair. In September 2012, the Federal State Property Management Agency transferred the building for free use to the Podelniki architectural group, which organized the conservation and gradual restoration of the building. The building is currently used as a cultural venue and is considered to be the unofficial symbol of Uralmash neighborhood. In 1974, the White Tower was recognized as an architectural monument of national significance.
History On 15 July 1928, in the north of Yekaterinburg (at that time Sverdlovsk), the foundation of the future metalworking shop of the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant (Uralmash) was ceremoniously laid. Along with the construction of production buildings, the construction of a neighbourhood for workers began, this large-scale construction soon faced a water shortage. Initially, water was delivered by horses from wells near the Kamyshenka River, but its quality did not meet the requirements. Additionally, there is information about the construction of a temporary water pipeline from the Kalinovka stream. As the existing water resources could not satisfy the growing needs of the construction site and the functioning of the town, the Uralmash management began to look for other ways to solve the problem. Professor-hydrogeologist Modeste Clerc suggested that on the shore of Lake Shuvakish at a depth of about 50 meters there is a pool of artesian water, from which it would be possible to extract up to 5000 m3 of water per day. A group of specialists from the Nizhny Tagil Vysokogorsk Mining Administration, headed by hydrogeologist Aleksandr Tutunin, was invited to develop the deposits. Having drilled eight test wells, the researchers discovered water at a depth of 80–100 meters. In 1928, the design department of Uralmash began working on the project of the water tower and its communications, while drilling of the wells on Lake Shuvakish began only in the spring of 1930. During the drilling, a chisel broke off, which for a long time could not be removed from the well, delaying the construction. By the decision of the chief engineer Vladimir Fidler, a contract was signed with group of German specialists, for drilling five wells with a diameter of half a meter. Two of them turned out to be low-water, but all of them were enough to supply drinking water to the workers' town via a temporary pipeline by mid-September 1930. A year later, the laying of permanent communications was completed and the construction of a pumping station and reservoirs was finished.
Сonstruction of the tower
At the end of 1928, the head of the design department, Iosif Robachevskiy, with the support of the chief construction engineer, Vladimir Fidler, proposed building a water tower according to an individual design. Department members were given only a week to develop a project plan. A competition was held and the project by Moisei Reisher was chosen for construction. He proposed using reinforced concrete, which was new at the time, as the main material, thanks to which the structure turned out to be lightweight and stood out from the other competition projects. Little information has been preserved about the work of other competition participants. Some sources also mention that Fidler also took part in the competition, proposing a metal structure for the tower based on the system of engineer Vladimir Shukhov. Initially, Reisher planned to place a monolithic reinforced concrete tank with a capacity of 540 m3 in the tower, an observation deck on the roof, a newspaper kiosk and a bus stop pavilion at the base. It was planned that the tank would rest on two monolithic reinforced concrete columns and a stairwell. But during the revision of the project, additional supports were added, the infrastructure of the first floor was abandoned, round windows were added along the facade, and instead of a reinforced concrete tank, it was decided to use a steel one with a capacity of 700 m3. Thus, the engineers decided to play it safe when working with an unfamiliar material. Reisher was critical of the two added columns, stating:
With a metal tank, the ceiling had to be supported by the outer walls of the tank's insulation. A vault appeared, adding the weight of another two-meter concrete wall, and all this lay on the consoles of a large extension, due to which they turned out to be very powerful. The Moscow design bureau "Tekhbeton" under the leadership of the engineer Sergei Prokhorov prepared the final drawings and supervised the construction. The drawings of the welded metal tank were prepared by the design bureau of Uralmashstroy according to the system of the German engineer Otto Intze. The tank became the first steel structure in the city made using electric welding rather than riveting. The work on the tank was entrusted to welder Vladimir Volnov and a group of young workers, who completed the task in five months. The assessment of the work performed was entrusted to Professor Valentin Vologdin and other prominent specialists. The first hydraulic tests were carried out in the newly built tower on 5 June 1931. An hour after the ceremonial opening and start of operation, the bottom of the tank sagged and collapsed, and a stream of water flooded the nearby streets. The new bottom was made of reinforced concrete according to the design of engineer Sergei Prokhorov. The tower was finally put into operation in 1931. At that time, its tank was the largest in the world.
Subsequently, Reisher was awarded the “Shock worker of Communist Labor” title for his water tower project. The water tower received the unofficial name "White Tower" for its lime-painted walls. During World War II, as a strategically important facility, it was painted camouflage green.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
