Chicago Avenue Water Tower and Pumping Station

Two rough-faced Joliet limestone buildings on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, a water tower and a pumping station, were designed by William W. Boyington in the castellated Gothic style and built from 1866-67, with completion in 1869. The tower rises in five sections, from a 40-foot-square base to an octagonal shaft with turrets and battlements. It was built to house a standpipe that evened out pressure from the pumping engines. The station is the land end of a two-mile tunnel under Lake Michigan, designed under city engineer Ellis Chesbrough, which brought clean water to the city and drew worldwide attention. The exteriors survived the 1871 fire, though the station interior was gutted and water service stopped for eight days. They were the only structures in the central city to survive, and are valued as a link to pre-fire Chicago and as an example of 19th-century engineering. The station still serves a large part of the city.