Here are three interesting and rather ornamental examples of 19th century tanks that captured rainwater runoff from house rooftops — all in Louisiana. All photos by Frances Benjamin Johnston via the Carnegie Survey of the South, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Braeme House, Clinton, Louisiana, 1938; structure built 1834.
Burnside Plantation, Ascension Parish, Louisiana, 1938; built 1840.
San Francisco, St. John’s Parish, Louisiana, 1938; built 1849-1850 in the Steamboat Gothic Style. The tanks are at the sides of the house.
enclos*ure 