Weathervane Wednesday ~ Up above a gasholder house

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I started by publishing weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes all across New England.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting. Often, my readers tip me off to some very unique and unusual weather vanes, too!

Today's weather vane  is from somewhere in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weather vane #194? Scroll down to see the answer!

Before we discuss the weather vane, did you figure out what a "gasholder house" was supposed to be?

Early gasholders were cast iron tanks.  Later, buildings were built to protect the cast iron from the weather, and this was especially important in New Hampshire.  Later it was found that the tanks could be made of lighter metal plates since the building protected them.  These buildings were built like powder houses, to direct any explosions up through the roof.

The weather vane above the cupola of this gasholder house is in the banner style.  It has a nice patina since the copper is 126 years old now. It also looks as if this weather vane is built into a lightning rod, which makes sense because at one time this structure was full of gas manufactured from coal at a plant around the corner. The gasholder was demolished in 1989, and just the brick building remains.

This gasholder house is located on the corner of Gas Street and South Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire (Route 3A).  It was used from 1888 until 1952.   It was closed when a natural gas pipeline came to the city of Concord.  It appears to be under renovation.

Historic American Buildings Survey, from the Library of Congress, for the Concord Gas Light Company, Gasholder House, Concord, Merrimack County, New Hampshire
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/nh0131/


Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday collection! 

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Copyright (c) 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo