I came across an intriguing article on dornob.com about water towers that had been converted into living spaces.
The images I’ve featured are from what appeared to be the least citified conversion — the House in the Clouds in Thorpeness, a region of Suffolk, England.
It was originally made to look like a house in 1923 when people felt the exposed water tower was an eyesore.
When the water tower was no longer in use, it was built into an actual home with five bedrooms and three bathrooms atop a 67-stair climb to an altitude of 70 feet. No need to go to the gym if you’re staying here!
The house is currently being used as a vacation rental.
The images bear a striking resemblance to treehouses, making me think of them as their human-made counterparts.
The tower is like the tree trunk and the home at the top is much like a treehouse, perched in the air. The residents probably feel a similar feeling of freedom and elevation.
That’s likely where the similarity ends, however. Treehouses are generally made specifically to get away from the hubbub of everyday life, with the city’s sounds and stresses, to get back to a simpler connection with ourselves, each other and nature.
Nevertheless, these urban analogues do bear a striking resemblance to treehouses. I suppose if you’re going to be living in the city, at least living in one of these towers can bring you a modicum of distance and sanity from the world below.
Check here to see the article featuring a total of seven converted water towers.
photos: House in the Clouds