Historic Restoration: Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia

By William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect
Stephen Kelly, editor

From a Schuylkill River tour boat you can see the how close the Fairmount Water Works is to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (ABOVE, LEFT) and downtown Philadelphia. The lower portion of the Water Works is renovated and now a museum run by the Philadelphia Water Department.
Photos: William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect

The British and Europeans who braved the high seas to come to American shores established their settlements along the banks of rivers, as had the Native Americans and our ancestors from time immemorial.

Decades of major underground utility work destroyed the South Garden. The restored South Garden at the Fairmount Water Works, viewed from the Spring Garden Street Bridge, reflects the designs of landscape architect Frederick Graff Jr., whose father was the chief engineer of the Fairmount Water Works in its early days. The brick walks are graded for wheelchair access and the sidewalk balustrades along the Schuylkill River restored. New recreations of the Paul Cret lighting fixtures evoke the 1870s look, and new benches are appreciated respites for the many people who walk along the footpaths by the river. Disease-resistant plantings of London planes and fruitless sweetgum trees are in keeping with the historic arbors. The restoration was a major effort of federal, state, city and private moneys, plus strong support from many local women’s groups.
Photos: William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect

Water Is Life and Life Water

The city of Philadelphia was settled between the shores of the Delaware River, named for the American Indian tribe, of course, and the Schuylkill River (meaning “hidden” in Dutch and pronounced “school kill”), a 130-mile waterway coming down from the Appalachians. The Delaware called it Ganshohawanee, “rushing waters.”

An 1857 bird’s-eye view by Bachman reveals the six reservoirs at the top of Fairmount, filled by pumping the clean waters of the Schuylkill River up the hill. At the edge of the river is the Fairmount Water Works and South Garden. The dam separated the upriver water from the tidal reach at the base of the dam.

Alas, not everyone could have waterfront property. Philadelphia became the first large American city to consider delivering clean water to its citizens a municipal responsibility.

The vehicle for water delivery became the Fairmount Water Works, the technological marvel of its time.

This 1833 painting depicts the forebay, the Mercury Pavilion (left) and the Engine House (right). The cliffs walk rose from this level to the reservoirs at the summit of Fairmount, more than 50 feet above downtown Philadelphia. The landscape architects of Menke & Menke reset and restored the rustic thatched wood roof of the 1870s Mercury Pavilion with metal.

A Techno Wonder

For the Romans, the aqueducts were technological wonders. For Philadelphians, it was the Fairmount Water Works. Frederick Graff built the waterworks on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill, initially using the power of steam engines to lift the water from the river. This evolved to waterwheels by 1822. Powered by the river, pumps raised water into reservoirs high atop the nearby hill, “Faire Mount.” The reservoirs were positioned 56 feet above the highest point of the city, thus allowing gravity to fed the fresh waters to the metropolis. The Fairmount Water Works opened to the public in 1825. The Engine House that housed the steam engines was remodeled in 1835 as a restaurant, and visitors from around the world arrived to admire the technology. The Fairmount Water Works were widely depicted in images on frontispieces of sheet music, on fine china and on canvas.

In 1872, the more efficient water-driven Jonval turbines replaced the waterwheels.

 

The filled forebay to the Water Works was regraded to allow parking and easier access to the restaurant and museum.

Fairmount Park

1826 marks the first mention of the “South Garden” of the water works and the beginning of what would become the huge Fairmount Park system.

Some of the city’s most noted designers worked on the South Garden: Jaques Greber, Thomas Sears and George Patton. Noted horticulturists, such as David and Cuthbert Landreth, also worked there and at adjacent Lemon Hill. The central feature was a marble fountain, circa 1833, which boasted the city’s tallest waster fountain. Frederick Graff’s son, Frederick Graff Jr., become a landscape architect and continued to refine the site’s features, which included paved paths with ornamental railings, gazebos and sculpture throughout the site.

A circa 1820 painting shows the combination of mechanical and idyllic character that fascinated visitors to the Fairmount Water Works. Bringing its healthy waters to an expanding urban population had planners and engineers around the world emulating its qualities.

Just north of the garden, the modest-size hills on the east side of the river became prime real estate, with private mansions built on Lemon Hill and Mount Pleasant. The city bought Lemon Hill in 1844, which also became part of the park.

Start your Segways! The trail along the Schuylkill is a great amenity, linking downtown Philadelphia with Valley Forge, 18 miles distant to the northwest.
Photos: William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect

Death of the Water Works

By 1880, a combination of industrial pollution and a poor sewage system began undermining the clean waters of the Schuylkill, which finally led to closing the water works in 1909.

The Fairmount Water Works holds both National Historic and National Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Landmark status. The water works for a time became an aquarium and, finally, a swimming facility, which closed in 1973.

Bluestone, brick and hex pavers for the cliffs walk have upgraded the likely creaky wooden walk shown circa 1839. The new iron railings (right) offer security and stability over the wooden cross- patterned fence design of the 1870s, while displaying an ornamental, historic character.

The former reservoirs of Fairmount are the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, conceived during the great Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Fairmount Park. The exposition’s Memorial Hall became the first permanent piece of the museum in May 1877, and the museum was substantially completed by 1928.

By 1910, the Fairmount Water Works no longer supplied Philadelphia’s water supply. Major sewer projects subsequently ripped up the South Garden. The round white object (center) is the restored marble fountain. Below that is the restored South Garden. Parking and access has been upgraded, as has a segment of recreational trail.
Photos: William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect

Fast Forward

Fast forward to the 1980s. The South Garden area of Fairmount Park was so derelict that even police wouldn’t chance patrolling it on foot. Several major sewer projects had ripped up the garden, but promises to fix the damage went unheeded for years. The most recent sewer work dug a tunnel under the site about 70 feet through solid rock. Finally, decades of private support and federal and local grants have helped to polish the Water Works and its environment to resume some of its former luster.

Lemon Hill mansion and the gazebo at the dam of the Fairmount Water Works (FWW) formed the beginning of Fairmount Park. Menke & Menke LLC were the landscape architects on many FWW projects and several phases of work at Lemon Hill, including restoring the view between these two sites, which had become obscured by vegetation over the years.

Enter Menke & Menke, LLC

The landscape architecture firm of Menke & Menke, LLC has been involved with major phases of restoring the site for over 25 years, including feasibility studies for reuse, historic landscape reports and construction documents. The South Garden has been restored, parking and access upgraded, as has a segment of recreational trail that connects miles of Schuylkill River Trail from central Philadelphia to Valley Forge. In addition, Menke & Menke is part of the team that continues to design the restoration of the cliffs between the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and has opened the views from Lemon Hill to these other park landmarks.

The Fairmount Water Works Dam separates the tidal portion of the Schuylkill River (pronounced “school kill”) from the fresh river water upstream. The bridge in the foreground is restored, and the turnaround to the Engine House, now a restaurant, is the edge of the former forebay.
Photos: William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect

The landscape architects had the challenge of adapting the design to maintain a historic look and feel for the site, albeit while using modern materials. Nevertheless, the site was an active park and had a well-used recreational trail passing through. To make the recreational paths smooth going for the heavy traffic of bicyclists, joggers and skaters, the landscape architects opted for jointless asphalt. Brick, a prominent historic paving material here, was used for the paths, crosswalks and edging within the South Garden. Restoring brick swales that could be tripping hazards took some ingenious grading. Hexagonal asphalt pavers replaced brick paths on the cliffs to better suit the serpentine curves on the hillside walks.

Carol Menke, managing partner of Menke & Menke LLC, is with her folding bike at the south entrance to the South Garden at the Fairmount Water Works. New lighting, benches, paving and turf parterres with shade trees bring the almost vanished space back to its 1870’s feel.

A thornless variety of the original fruiting sweet gum (honeylocust) trees were planted along the South Garden paths.

The walk to the cliffside path is hexagonal asphalt pavers edged with brick swales. The plantings are sympathetic to the 1870s, but replanted with low maintenance and disease-resistant species. The bridge above the cliffside path was structurally repaired. The bridge passes over the gap in the bedrock where once the Water Works pumped the river water up the hill to the reservoirs.

A final touch was ornamental railings and fencing, reproduced from historic images, to restore elegance to the South Garden entrance.

The Engine House turf panels were paved to accommodate outdoor seating for the restaurant, and the rustic overlook used steel rather than the twig and thatched roof materials of the 1870’s version.

In 1980, the Marble Fountain by the historic Water Works was in disrepair, the landscape overgrown, the South Garden destroyed and the buildings in ruin and infested with vermin. The Philly police considered the area too dangerous for foot patrols. Today the fountain is restored and cyclists, joggers, skaters and walkers are omnipresent on the trail, made with jointless asphalt for smooth conveyance.
Photos: William Menke, RLA, Project Landscape Architect

An 1839 gouache painting by William Strickland pictures the Marble Fountain and brick paths in the South Garden in front of the Engine House. The Mercury Pavilion is at right.

Project Particulars

• Fairmount Water Works, PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia Preservation Alliance 2007 Grand Jury Award $23 million restoration of the National Landmark1840’s-1870’s South Garden and 1920’s Italian Circle: parking and access site improvements.Historic landscape report
• Existing conditions assessment

Construction docs for:

• South Garden and cliffside restorationEngine House site adaptive reuseItalian Fountain Beaux Arts restorationSchuylkill Recreational Trail connector
• Fairmount & Aquarium Drive parking

Team

• Client/Owner: Capital Program Office, City of Philadelphia Fundraising and support: Fairmount Park Conservancy —“Without them, the project would have gone nowhere. They are a 501c3 non-profit organization. Philly’s FPC has little or no money, and lots of needs.Architecture & Planning: Mark Thompson ArchitectsLandscape Architecture & Planning: Menke & Menke, LLCStructural Engineering: O’Donnell & NacarcaratoHorticulturist: Charles CressonLighting Design: The Lighting PracticeElectrical Engineering: BHG ConsultingCivil Engineering: CSA Group / Ang AssociatesOrnamental Ironwork: Robinson IronGeneral Contractors for South Garden and Cliffs (current phase): Masonry Preservation Group
• General Contractors for Parking, Recreational Trail (earlier phase): Serivalli