PHILADELPHIA-
For the first time in a quarter-century, people can dine at the Fairmount Water Works, a neoclassical landmark below the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The July 14 opening of the Water Works Restaurant is part of the renovation of the site, which was the nation's first municipal water works. The structure is prized for its stunning Greek Revival structures.
An interpretive center has been in operation on the complex's lower level since 2003.
The Water Works, built in 1815, used neoclassical architecture to mask the pumps and mill wheels that drove water from the Schuylkill river to the top of Fair Mount, where the art museum is now located. Gravity then sent clean water throughout the city.
The structure was hailed by Charles Dickens on his 1842 visit as being "no less ornamental than useful, being tastefully laid out as a public garden."
By 1909, however, the structure was rendered obsolete by modern filtration methods, and river pollution forced the city to shut it down. The complex housed an aquarium for a time and then a swimming pool, but both had closed by the early 70s.
