Technology and innovation do nothing. The wooden tanks of New York are more popular than ever. For decades, they have been delivering the water in the upper floors of the city and are an integral part of its architecture. Millions of New Yorkers depend on these nearly four-meter-tall cylinders for their water supply. Yet the majority of them ignore it. Insufficient pressure forces all buildings over six stories to pump water up onto the roof, into a reservoir, before gravity does the rest.
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That day, Terrance Stokes and his team are hard at work in an opulent building on Lexington Avenue, in theUpper East Side. In seven hours, they’ll be deboning a tank and putting together a new one, on behalf of Isseks Brothers, one of the three companies that share the market in the most populous city of the United States (8.6 million inhabitants estimated in 2017). New York now has around 10,000 reservoirs. The tools have evolved a little but for the most part, these “water tanks” are being erected today as in 1890, when the Isseks brothers created their company.
Terrance followed the path of his father, retired three years ago, and it is now he who commands the ballet of these artisans whose know-how constitutes the main asset of Isseks. “It’s a very dangerous job,” warns this native of Caribbean, like most of his men. “At all times, you must be vigilant.” he emphasizes. The Lexington Avenue building is only nine stories tall, but Isseks has already laid tanks in the old and new World Trade Center, which rises to 541 meters, as well as in many Skyscraper New Yorker. The team works continuously, almost without a break: “When people get home at four o’clock,” Terrance smiles, “they want the water to come back.”
A little after 3:00 p.m., the water begins to fill the new tank. And unsurprisingly, he flees. No calculation or installation error, the cedar ofAlaska will swell under the effect of water and the cylinder will be waterproof within two or three days. The installation is expected to last for approximately 25 years. Isseks trusts Hall-Woolford, the provider of Philadelphia who provides him with the calibrated boards for assembly. There, there are only seven in this century-old workshop, where some machines are older than the men who use them. Nothing is automated, everything is guided by the hand of man. “To nab it, it’s not in a book,” says Jack Hillman, the manager. “It is from generation to generation, from a worker to another.”
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Business is going like never before, rejoices Jack Hillman at Hall-Woolford, even if he remains vigilant. He remembers the disappearance of the Philadelphia reservoirs, which were still legion in the 70s. “The tank people haven’t pushed as much as in New York and the pump industry has taken over,” he explains. Philadelphia now only uses pipes andelectricity to circulate its water. Jack Hillman is nevertheless convinced that the reservoirs have a bright future ahead of them, especially since wood has become trendy again. So much so that boards from old tanks are now sold at a good price to make weathered furniture or parquet. As far as Hillman looks to the future, he sees wooden tanks there. “It will last longer than me.”
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