During an era of rapid population growth and the advent of indoor plumbing, East Bay residents devised low-tech yet ingenious structures to bring water into their homes. Today, a handful of redwood “tank houses” are all that remain of the thousands of windmill-topped “tank houses” which stood one hundred and twenty years ago. Join Aaron Goldstein on a virtual tour to unearth a lost urban water-scape and unpack a largely-forgotten piece of local vernacular architecture. We’ll look at numerous examples, from the everyday to the exuberant, and learn the stories of the people who lived beside – and occasionally inside – them.

Bio: Aaron Goldstein, RA is a licensed architect in California and an architectural historian. He is from San Francisco and currently lives in Berkeley. His current passion is tank house exploration. For nearly two years, he has been tirelessly mapping and documenting dozens of East Bay tank houses, interviewing owners and tenants, and learning their stories. He is writing a book on the subject and in the meantime leads regular walking tours in Oakland and Berkeley. Check out his profile by Berkeleyside and his tank house schwag.

Photo Credit: Kelly Sullivan