Vanadislunden Water Reservoir – Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm’s center is full beautiful old buildings and is home to several residences for the king. When you walk past this structure in particular, you can easily assume that this is one of the homes or an old fort. In fact, it is a large water reserve that keeps the pressure on the pipes of people living in the area.
Vanadislunden’s water reservoir was built between 1913 and 1918 after constructions by Gustar Améen. The building was built on top of an old reservoir in the 1870s and was made to resemble a castle with four towers and a glazed tile roof.
Inside these walls is a 19-foot (six-meter) deep pool that holds about 8,100 cubic meters of water that stands on top of several large concrete pillars that raise it above the height of the old reservoir. The water reaches 177 feet (54 meters) above sea level, a height that is still sufficient to keep the pipes in operation.
On April 4, 1954, a leak turned into a complete breakthrough when the water managed to get through an iron security door and around eight million liters of water washed over the area and down the hill and took cars and other objects on trailers. Fortunately, no one died during the flood, but it became a rather sensational event in the Swedish news due to the fact that an orphanage had to be evacuated by ladder.
The reservoir is still used today.