Addington water tower shows true colours

Addington’s historic water tower is sporting its original colour scheme for the first time in decades.

The 21.9-metre tower was damaged in the earthquakes but has recently been repaired, strengthened and given a fresh coat of paint.

The restored Addington water tower.

“In recent times the tower has been painted either grey or black but we knew that when it was originally built in 1883 it was painted in Victorian colours,’’ says Christchurch City Council Heritage Programme Manager Richie Moyle.

“Working out what those Victorian colours were was not an easy task as we only had black and white photos of the tower, but we finally got the information that we needed to allow us to replicate the original colour scheme.

“How the tower looks now is pretty much how it would have looked when it was first built to supply water for Addington’s railway workshops,’’ Mr Moyle says.

“We are thrilled we have been able to restore this local landmark to its former glory. The feedback we’ve had from the community is that they really like the new colour scheme and that we’ve given the tower a new lease of life.’’

The Addington water tower was designed by Peter Ellis, the then Chief Draughtsman for the Railways Department, and was built using prison labour.

The octagonal-shaped tower sits on a slight lean because it was built on a base of quicksand and clay – it sunk 22 centimetres during construction.

It carries the highest possible Historic Places rating because it was the first reinforced concrete water tower built in the world.