Old Tower

In 1906, there was no water supply in Mariupol and water carriers delivered water in barrels for a fee from a source of drinking water on Malofontannaya Street to the homes of local residents. On May 24, 1906, the Mariupol Duma (city council) adopted the proposal to secure a loan to finance the project of constructing a water supply network in Mariupol. The cost of its implementation was estimated at 360 thousand Rubles, which exceeded the city budget by far. Permission for obtaining a loan was granted by , Chairman of the Council of Ministers and concurrently Minister of the Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, and the Mayor was informed of it in February 1907. Construction work on the…

The tower was designed following eclecticism, a trend in architecture of the second half of the 19th century, in that it combines elements of various styles, here: Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Romanesque style is said to be found in the semicircular completion of arches and decorating details. Each of the red-and-white brick faces of the octahedral four-tier tower ends with a roof slope at the foot of a circular glazed viewing platform under an eight-slope roof. The walls of the structure are divided into three parts (first, second-third and fourth floors) by white-brick cornice masonry around the perimeter. The second and third floors are visually perceived as a single floor due to the…