Building the last Fire Watch Tower of Bucharest was determined by the city's administration facing two problems: Continuing to survey and alarm the firemen after demolishing, in 1888, the Coltea Tower, the oldest fire watch tower, built in 1715; Here on, the idea of a compensation reservoir, which due to its height would also serve as fire watch tower.

The project of the building was entrusted to the Townhall's chief architect, George Mandrea (graduate of the Architecture Institute in Dresden, Germany), teacher at the Architecture School from Bucharest. In one of the first variants of the project, the building had a heavy look, with no suppleness at all, with massive walls that were meant to sustain the 720 m³ water reservoir. In the second variant, the one that the tower was actually built after, the architect thinned the walls, thus resulting 16 pilasters that sustained the weight of the reservoir. Other modifications lead to reducing the building material and to increasing the optical effect, thus rising the supple and, even today, imposing building of 42 meters.

The first store was destined to the engineer and to the water supply workers, while the soldier firemen who surveyed the town occupied the second store. The building began on the 17th of September 1890. On the 28th of February 1892, the Mayor received the building and ascertained the quality of the execution but also the fact that the Waterworks hadn't received by that time the new more powerful pumps that could push the water to the height of the reservoir.

For this reason, on the 22nd of April 1892, the Townhall conceded the entire building to the Firemen Company. The ground floor was arranged for the fire carriages and for their horses. The first floor became the soldiers' barrack and the second floor was destined for the commanding officer. The surveillance of the town from the height of the tower continued until 1910 when it was replaced by the phone calls. That is why, since 1892, the building have been known as The Firemen Post No.5 - The Fire Watch Tower, being even today a reference point in the urban picture. In 1935, the firemen moved into a new barrack, the building having several destinations until 1963 when it became the The Fire Watch Tower - The Museum of the Romanian Firemen.