The Croton Aqueduct, 135th Street Gateway, was built at the design of Frederic S. Cook from 1884-1890. The granite and brownstone fortress-like gatehouse is the most impressive local architectural feature of the new Croton Aqueduct. The building was erected to regulate flow from both the new and old Croton Aqueduct systems. A
similar gateway can be found further downtown at 119th Street.
The Croton Aqueduct was a complex water distribution system initially constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The island of Manhattan had a limited supply of fresh water available on the island, which dwindled as the population expanded and pollution increased. Unsanitary conditions led to epidemics like cholera and yellow fever and many fires, culminating in the 1835 Great Fire of New York. Supervised by Chief Engineer John B. Jervis, the Croton River was dammed. Iron pipe encased in brick masonry was laid from the Croton Dam in northern Westchester County to the Harlem River, where it traveled over the High Bridge at 173rd Street, down the west side of Manhattan to a Receiving Reservoir between 79th and 86th streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues in an area then known as Yorkville, that is now the site of the
Great Lawn in Central Park. The Receiving Reservoir was a 1,826 feet long and 836 feet wide fortress-like building that held up to 180 million gallons of water. Thirty-five million gallons flowed in daily from northern Westchester. From the Receiving Reservoir water flowed down to the Distributing Reservoir, better known as the Croton Reservoir, on Fifth Avenue between 40th Street and 42nd Street, where the
main branch of the New York Public Library and
Bryant Park are located today. Water started flowing through the aqueduct on June 22, 1842, taking 22 hours for gravity to take the water the 41 miles to reach Manhattan. The Aqueduct opened for public use on October 14, 1842 with a day-long celebration culminating in a fountain of water that spouted to a height of fifty feet from the beautifully decorated
Croton Fountain in City Hall Park.
The capacity of the Old Croton Aqueduct could not keep up with the growth of New York City, and construction on a New Croton Aqueduct began in 1885, and it went into service in 1890, with triple the capacity. The Croton Reservoir continued to supply New York City with drinking water until 1940, when Commissioner of Parks and Recreation Robert Moses ordered it drained and filled to create the Great Lawn in Central Park.
The Croton Aqueduct, 135th Street Gateway, was designated a landmark by the New York city Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1981.
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