Tom Fruin’s iconic water tower sculpture in Brooklyn Bridge Park to be restored
Photos by Matthew Pugliese
The colorful water tower sculpture in Brooklyn Bridge Park has been removed. But don’t worry, it will return next year. Designed by Tom Fruin and installed 12 years ago, the Plexiglas and steel artwork on top of the park’s administrative building at 334 Furman Street was dismantled and taken down on Tuesday ahead of a renovation of the building. Like the building, the sculpture, which honors NYC’s water towers, will also be restored, as first reported by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “Watertower 3: R.V. Ingersoll” will be repaired and rehabilitated after more than a decade of exposure to sun, snow, and rain and reinstalled in the fall of 2027.
The artwork is visible from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and has become a familiar fixture of the borough’s waterfront since its installation in 2014.
“Watertower 3: R.V. Ingersoll” is the sixth work of Fruin’s plexiglass-and-steel “ICON” series, which uses scavenged, reclaimed, and recycled materials to create “sculptural tributes” honoring architectural icons around the world, the Daily Eagle reported.
Fruin created “Watertower 3” from roughly 1,000 scraps of acrylic from Evonik Industries, a producer of Acrylite acrylic sheets. Other elements include transparent acrylic scraps sourced from Chinatown sign shops. The structure also features interior and exterior access ladders and an operable roof hatch.
During the day, sunlight passes through the stained glass, illuminating its colorful panels and powering its solar energy system. At night, the piece is illuminated with light sequences that run from dusk until dawn, highlighting Fruin’s use of sustainable and recycled materials.
However, when the artwork’s lighting went dark in the weeks before its removal, Fruin reached out to the building’s owners to find out what was happening.
“When I noticed the light was out a month ago, I contacted the building to look into it, and they informed me that the building was undergoing an extensive top-to-bottom renovation, including reworking the roof,” Fruin told 6sqft in an email.
“I thought it was a perfect opportunity to remove the artwork to inspect it and have it repowder-coated and cleaned so that it would last for many more years,” he added.
The ICON series began in Copenhagen in 2010 with the installation of “Kolonihavehus,” inspired by the Scandinavian city’s signature garden sheds, which were designed to provide refuge for state workers from cramped living conditions in the city, according to Fruin’s website. In 2012, the first “Watertower” sculpture was installed atop 20 Jay Street in Dumbo.
For now, New Yorkers will have to wait a bit longer for the sparkling water tower to return. The renovation of 334 Furman Street will transform the building with updated offices and an expanded Education Center. The sculpture is expected to be reinstalled in fall 2027.
“‘Watertower 3: R.V. Ingersoll’ has been such a beloved part of the park for the past 12 years, and we’re excited to give it some much-needed TLC,” BBP President Eric Landau said in a statement to the Daily Eagle.
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