That Giant Concrete Thing in My Basement

It was in the basement: I was down there with a broom clearing out cobwebs and trying to reclaim some space, and there was where it was, a concrete cistern.

It was a big, round, concrete thing, like it had always been there, waiting. I had no idea what it was. Furnace base? Bomb shelter? Something sinister?

Some digging — fine, some frantic Googling — and I finally cracked it. The cistern was made of concrete, down in the basement. A vestige from a time when people needed to collect rain water because running water wasn’t a guarantee.

Rainwater Was the Source of Water

My house was constructed early in the 1900s. Homes did not all have city water back then. They collected rainwater off the roof in cisterns instead. People buried some in yards. Others, like mine, embedded them directly into the basement to ensure the water didn’t freeze, relying on the solidity of a concrete cistern.

The downspouts brought water in and collected it in that big, sealed concrete tank. Some even came with gravel or charcoal filters. It was used for laundry, for cleaning and, sometimes, for drinking — filtered or unfiltered.

What a Cistern Looks Like

If you have one, you’ll know this.

Big and round and made of concrete. No vents, no ducts. No trace of heat or burning — nothing that would indicate that it had been used as part of a system of warming. Mine has a couple of inscrutable pipe stubs and a thick concrete top. Entirely bricked up by now, but obviously designed to contain something, exactly like a concrete cistern should.

It’s Not a Furnace Base

I at first thought it may be that of an old coal furnace. But it didn’t line up. No soot, no bolt holes. No indications of it having been attached from above.

Online forums and old-house communities validated what I was witnessing. Many homeowners had the same kind of arrangement in houses built prior to the 1930s. Each of them said the exact same thing: it is a cistern.

What Can You Do With It?

Some people leave them alone. Others think outside the box — the wine cellar, the root cellar, extra storage. It can be removed if it’s in the way, but it’s a really big job. That concrete isn’t moving without a fight.

Mine’s staying put. It adds character. Guests ask about it. It’s weird. I like it.

A Quiet Link to the Past

It was kind of self-sustaining, so there’s still a cistern in our basement. No plumbing? No problem. “Build a tank, catch the rain, get on with my life using the concrete cistern.

Homes such as mine were not built for show. They were built to work. And every once in a while, history is right there at your feet.