The Saginaw Water Works
A Monument to Usefulness and Beauty
Dominating the Rust Park landscape, the magnificent Saginaw Water Works serves the community well. Since 1929, it has produced a pure, cold, and abundant water supply. It purifies and pumps water to the City of Saginaw and many surrounding Townships, Cities, and Villages.
This page briefly describes the art and architecture of the building. Aside from its beauty, the Water Works has become known for its modern treatment methods, and for its operation, research, and maintenance. The treatment and pumping facilities are operated 24 hours a day by professional, certified personnel, whose dedication to sound principles of public health, safety, and convenience is their hallmark of character. Both the exterior and interior of the building, as well as its equipment, reflect the continuous, careful maintenance that preserves its usefulness and architectural integrity.
Architecture
The architect and the engineers who designed the Saginaw Water Works combined their extraordinary talents to erect a facility which is not only beautiful and functional, but versatile in accommodating various methods of treatment. Victor A Matteson of Chicago, was the architect. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects, and the American Water Works Association. Mr. matteson had accumulated twenty years of experience in designing water plants before he undertook the task for Saginaw. The engineers were the firm of Hoad, Decker, Shoecraft, and Drury. Mr. Matteson's love of beauty was well known. In 1926 he stated,
"The matter of good and bad design . . . is a question of knowledge, ability, and opportunity on the part of the designer, and knowledge on the part of the critic ... Indirectly, it is economic to give the public beautiful, as well as useful things, especially when one considers that of all the money expended on a complete water system, only about twenty-five percent of the total is applied to works above ground and visible."
The exterior of the Saginaw Water Works is designed as an adaptation of Gothic architecture to modern requirements. In designing the plant, the architect gave careful consideration to the site. Most of the pleasing architectural effect is secured by a careful study of mass and proportions, light and shade, and color. The large central tower, which encloses a steel water tank, dominates the group of interconnected structures. Some interesting detail and stone carvings dealing with the history of the site are apparent on the tower, and along the north and east faces of the building. An extension of the Filter Gallery was completed in 1968, duplicating as near as possible, the original structure. This addition increased the plant capacity from 30.0 million gallons per day to 45 million gallons per day.
Entering through the Lobby, the Filter Room is apparent to the east, and the Pumping Station balcony to the west. The Filter Room is a lofty gallery lighted by windows above massive aches which separate the gallery from the huge filters on either side. The ceiling of this gallery is designed to give the effect of stained paneled wood, with wooden beams, but actually is fireproof like all the rest of the building. The massive filter operating tables are made of Italian green serpentine marble, topped with polished black marble from Belgium. Small stainless steel consoles hold the instruments and controls. The Pumping Station is a large well-lighted room occupying the entire west side of the front of the building. It is surrounded by an interior balcony which is accessible through a large archway connecting it to the Lobby. The interior of the building was designed in the Gothic style to harmonize with the exterior in both direct and subtle ways. The high arches and ceiling render a spaciousness. The door hardware, chandeliers, and decorative designs in the plaster, as well as the "spider web" reinforcements and arched construction of various steel, roof support beams, are examples of the sensitivity the architect had for his total design.
Interior furnishings include a fountain and pool in the Filter Gallery. Statuary includes "Morning Prayer," by an unknown 18th century French sculptor, and "Peter Pan," which is contemporary. Both of these statues are lead copies of the originals, and embrace the spirit of the Water Works function and design.
The building was completed in 1929, and since that time, has supplied Saginaw with pure, cold water for homes and industry. The Saginaw River was the raw water source from 1929 to 1948. Since 1948, the raw water source has been Lake Huron, with the intake located near Au Gres. So pleased was the architect with his work, that two years after designing the structure he used the major features for the Fort Wayne, Indiana, Water Plant; and still later, designed Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Water Plant along similar lines.