One of the Last Water Towers on the North Fork

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Water towers were once a common feature on North Fork farms. This is one of the few surviving towers and could be used for any number of things: a pool house, an art studio, a home office, or all of the above.
Photo: Bobby Alan Studio

Plenty of East End properties have pools, ponds, or waterfront footage. But a six-story water tower? Definitely a rarity. At 880 Water Mill Road in Mattituck, a 70-foot-tall brick tower built in 1898 looms over the main house and pool and is included in a sale of the property listed for $1.629 million. Daniel Dana Jackson, the chief chemist of the Brooklyn Water Supply Department, constructed the tower for his North Fork farm. Jackson, who also had a home in Brooklyn with his wife, went on to head up the chemical-engineering department at Columbia University.

The main house has four bedrooms, an open layout, and a massive stacked stone fireplace.
Photo: Bobby Alan Studio

The water tower, which was once a common feature on local farms in the North Fork, is one of the few surviving in the area. It has a landmarked exterior, but the partially finished interior could be redone in any fashion. Each level is about 300 square feet, according to Sotheby’s International Realty associate broker William Walters. He added that the space would make a great art studio, home office, pool house, or club house. Really, with six levels, it could be all four.

The interior of the water tower is atmopsheric but could use some finish work.
Photo: Bobby Alan Studio

The main house was built in 1990 and wraps around the old barn from Jackson’s farm, taking reclaimed wood and design cues from there with exposed posts and beams. It has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, an open plan, and an abundance of wood and natural stone details, most notably a gigantic stacked stone fireplace that stretches from floor to ceiling — one of three fireplaces in the home. It’s a pleasant, light-filled space with high ceilings and wide-plank knotty-pine flooring. There’s an accessory apartment over the two-car garage as well (even more room for guests!) and landscaped grounds with a koi pond. The house also comes with access to Mattituck Inlet, with boating, fishing, and public beaches, as a part of the Jackson Landing Community.

The tower has a staircase and about 300 square feet on each of its floors.
Photo: Bobby Alan Studio

The last owner of the Mill Road house stored some art in the water tower, according to Walters, but didn’t do much else with it. Perhaps interested buyers should instead take cues from Jackson, apparently something of a Renaissance man, who enjoyed “experimenting with fruits, vegetables, exotic trees and plants” at the farm, according to a 1941 article in the Columbia Quarterly Review. He also raised ducks and geese, including several wild species, and alongside his wife, “an expert in rose culture,” cultivated what was by all accounts a stellar rose garden.