100-year-old water towers of the Zielinski engineers´ bureau

Abstract

In the first decade of the 20th century dr Szilárd Zielinski (1860-1924) and his partners designed and built the first reinforced concrete water towers in Hungary. Some of these pioneering water towers situated outside the borders of present-day Hungary - which have not yet attracted appropriate attention - have also been considered in this study. A formal and structural analysis shows the idiosyncracies of Zielinski´s design on the basis of which his commonly accepted authorship of the tower in the town of Szolnok is questioned. In addition, contemporary documents unequivocally prove that Zielinski indeed was one of the competitors of the tender though not the winning one. The plans submitted by his bureau clearly show the typical features of his realized water towers. Zielinski´s and his associated architect partners´ undeniable conceptual novelty was enabling public access into the interior of some ideally situated towers which eventuated specific structural consequences.