Watertoren Utrecht (Heuveloord)

Watertoren Utrecht (Heuveloord) stands in southern Utrecht, a thirty-seven-metre landmark on the municipal boundary with Jutphaas near Tolsteeg. The shaft is round and slightly tapered. Above it, a projecting reservoir creates a neo-Dutch Renaissance silhouette, like the water tower at Lauwerhof. That upper section once drew architectural criticism.

Construction between 1906 and 1907 made the structure the third water tower built by Utrecht’s local water company. It first served Utrecht’s city district with water. Hoograven gained a connection in 1931, extending the tower’s reach beyond its original district. In 1977, Luxalon sandwich panels changed the exterior. After blue, grey, and white panels covered the shaft and reservoir, a 1996 restoration sought the earlier appearance. The restoration used as many original materials as possible. Later uses place a restaurant across two upper floors, a café with terrace on the ground floor, and a tattoo studio on the sixth floor. Locals once nicknamed such towers waterhoofdjes, or water heads.