About

Since early 2021, architect and amateur architectural historian Aaron Goldstein has been poring over fire insurance maps, flying around Google Earth and peeking over fences. He is building a comprehensive map of the East Bay's surviving urban tank houses, which once harnessed wind power to pump water into elevated wooden tanks for domestic and industrial use.

He's found 57 so far (with lots of help from owners and other tank-spotters), many of which are now well-hidden, modified, truncated, or incorporated into later construction. New ones are turning up all the time.

Buying a shirt or a tote helps Aaron keep up this massive research and documentation effort. He is currently developing into a book and series of architectural walking tours.

Check out the main tank house site here. 

You can donate to the project here.