The Old Water Tower is one of the symbols of Mariupol, which is no less famous than the chimneys of metallurgical plants or houses with spires. The tower’s authority is aided by its venerable age, which has already crossed the 100-year mark.
Work on the construction of the tower began in December 1909. Today it is an architectural monument, but at that time it was an «object of vital necessity», because it was one of the key elements of the first city water supply system, which started working in July 1910. The author of the tower project was the architect Victor Alexandrovich Nielsen. Ten years earlier he had built a very similar tower in the Russian city of Rybinsk. On the fourth level of the Mariupol tower there was a water tank for the city center. 
The system operated until 1932.
After that, the tower served as a firehouse (the city fire department was located nearby). After World War II, it fell into disrepair. Despite this, in 1983 it received the status of the monument of architecture of local importance.
At the end of the 1980s there was an idea to restore the building and place in it the Mariupol Museum of Urban Planning, which could expand the list of active city museums. But as a result, only in 1996 the tower received permanent tenants. A bank branch was opened in it — 
an effective solution that allows preserving the historical object without special expenses from the local authorities. Steep spiral staircases and limited space were hardly convenient for its many visitors, but anyone could explore the tower from the inside, coming for a consultation, for example, on how to open a bank card or send a money order. Employees’ workplaces occupied three floors, and on the top floor — the fourth — there was a meeting room with a viewpoint. One of the city channels used to shoot a TV program about the history of Mariupol in this room, but today the access is restricted. Hopefully, anyone will be able to admire the city center from the top after the construction of the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God is completed. In December 2012, the bank liquidated its branch in the tower. 
While the transfer of the building to the city balance is underway, options for further use of the historic site are being considered.
Its images are used not only on souvenir magnets and view photos of the city, but also in official events. For example, the winner of the contest «Mariupoler of the Year» is awarded a crystal cup in the form of the tower and a diploma with its image. Among other interesting facts, one can recall that in the late 1990s, when the Mariupol Distillery was still in operation, one of its products was liquor, which was bottled in tower-shaped bottles.