The wooden water towers above us

More than 5,600 registered rooftop tanks dot New York City's five boroughs. City water pressure climbs only about six stories on its own; above that, gravity from these cedar and redwood barrels does the rest. Three family-run firms have built nearly all of them.

5,625
Buildings
1,024
Multi-tank sites
3
Major builders
25
Years of records
Color by
Buildings by borough
The three builders
Rosenwach
3,294
Tanks since 1880s; lineage to Wm. Dalton, est. 1866
Isseks Bros.
2,471
Est. 1890; first firm founded expressly for water tanks
American Pipe & Tank
1,115
Joined the trade by 1920
Sources Building data: New York City Department of Health, Self-Reported Drinking Water Tank Inspection Results, 2000-2025. Builder counts use the most recently reported inspector for each building. Historical context drawn from Thomas Mellins, "New York's Wooden Water Tanks." Click any dot for building-level detail.
Data as of March 2026 · By Vital City