For much of American history, fire stations had a distinctive visual identity almost by default: they required steeple-like towers within which cotton hoses were hung to dry, preventing rot. Even as modest a building as Venturi and Rauch’s Fire Station No. 4 in Columbus, Indiana, achieves a sense of civic presence by virtue of its monolithic hose tower. But by 1968, when that building was completed, the times were already changing. Synthetic, rot-proof fabrics like nylon obviated the need for hang-drying, and, when the firm was hired to design a subsequent fire station, in New Haven, a hose tower was omitted from the brief. Like most other architects called upon to design fire stations since, the firm had to find other means to convey the building’s importance.