A
clock tower is a
tower
built with one or more (often four)
clock
faces. The clock tower is usually part of
a
church or municipal building
such as a
town hall, but many clock towers
are free-standing.
The mechanism inside the tower is known as a
turret clock. It often marks the hour (and
sometimes segments of an hour) by sounding large
bells or
chimes,
sometimes playing simple musical phrases or tunes.
Landmarks
Some clock towers are famous landmarks.
Five of the best-known
are the Clock Tower, Palace of
Westminster
, which houses the Great Bell (generally known as Big
Ben) in London
, the
Rajabai
Tower
in Mumbai
, the
Spasskaya Tower of the
Moscow
Kremlin
, the Leaning Tower of Pisa
, the Campanile in Venice
, Italy
, Zytglogge
clock tower in the Old city of Berne
, Switzerland
.
On
New Year's Eve 2004 four 6.3-metre
clock faces were added to the top of the Warsaw Palace
of Culture and Science
building in Warsaw
, Poland
making it
the highest 4-faced clock tower in the world and the
second highest clock tower in the world.. The NTT DoCoMo
Yoyogi Building
240 meters (787 feet) is 10 meters higher and
is the highest clock tower in the world. The Allen-Bradley
Clock Tower
holds the record for the largest non-chiming four
faced clock.
History
Although clock towers are today mostly admired for their
aesthetics, they once served an important purpose. Before the
middle of the twentieth century, most people did not have watches,
and prior to the 18th century even home clocks were rare. The first
clocks didn't have faces, but were solely
striking clocks, which sounded bells
to call the surrounding community to prayer. They were therefore
placed in towers so the bells would be audible for a long distance.
Clock towers were placed near the centers of towns and were often
the tallest structures there. As clock towers became more common,
the designers realized that a
dial on the
outside of the tower would allow the townspeople to read the time
whenever they wanted.
The use of clock towers dates back to the
antiquity.
The earliest clock tower was the Tower of the
Winds
in Athens
which
featured eight sundials. In its
interior, there was also a
water clock
(or clepsydra), driven by water coming down from the
Acropolis.
A striking
clock tower was constructed many centuries later in 1154 near
the Umayyad
Mosque
in Damascus
, Syria
, by the
Arab engineer
al-Kaysarani. In England
, a clock was
put up in a clock tower, the medieval precursor to Big Ben
, at Westminster
, in 1288; and in 1292 a clock was put up in
Canterbury
Cathedral
. The oldest surviving clock tower in Europe is
the Salisbury cathedral
clock, completed in 1306; and another clock put up at St. Albans
, in 1326, 'showed various astronomical
phenomena'.
JB Joyce & Co claims to be the
world's oldest tower clock maker (still in operation). The company
began life in 1690 and still manufactures clocks not far from its
original premises in Whitchurch, Shropshire. Today it is a part of
the
Smith of
Derby Group, started in 1856, which claims to be the largest
tower clock manufacturer in the world.
The company has
manufactured tower clocks for St Paul's Cathedral
in London
and the
Shanghai
Customs building
in China
.
Line
(mains) synchronous tower clocks were introduced in the United
States in the 1920s by Telechron, now
Electric Time Company of
Medfield,
Massachusetts
. Electric
Time Company is now the largest tower clock manufacturer in the
world.
List of Clock towers
Africa
Asia
Hong Kong
India
- Ram
Narain Periwal Clock Tower, Fazilka
, Punjab
- Clock
Tower, Chaura Bazaar, Ludhiana
, Punjab
- Rajabai Tower
, South
Mumbai
- The
Clock Tower, Secunderabad
, Andhra
pradesh
- Ghanta Ghar, Dehradun
, Uttarakhand
Indonesia
Israel
Lebanon
- American University of Beirut's College Hall Clock, Beirut
- Place D'Etoile
Malaysia
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
Myanmar
United Arab Emirates
North America
Barbados
Canada
- Central Post Office
, Ontario
, Canada
- St. Paul's Cathedral
, Canada

- Hamilton City
Hall, Ontario
, Canada
- Old City Hall
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Queen's Quay Terminal
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Kerr
Hall
, Ryerson University
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Upper Canada College
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Hart House,
Soldiers' Tower
, Toronto
, Ontario
- Queen Street Viaduct
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Cathedral
Church of St. James
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- St. Lawrence Hall
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Press
Building, Exhibition
Place
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Fire
Hall & Police Station, Exhibition Place
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Summerhill-North Toronto CPR
Station
, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- Toronto
Fire Services Station 227, Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
- former Toronto Fire Department Hose Station
# 8, Toronto
, Ontario
- Peace Tower
, Parliament Hill
Ottawa
, Ontario
, Canada
- Clock
tower of the Mississauga City
Hall in Mississauga
, Ontario
- Gare du Palais
, Quebec
City
, Quebec
, Canada
- Montreal Clock Tower
, Quebec
, Canada
- Place d'Armes
Clock Tower, Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
- Vancouver City Hall
, British Columbia
, Canada
Mexico
United States
- Union
College, Lincoln, Nebraska

- Main Building of The University of Texas
at Austin
, Austin,
Texas
- Mercantile National Bank
Building
, Dallas
, Texas
, United
States
- Baker Tower
at Dartmouth College
in Hanover, New Hampshire
- McGraw Tower at
Cornell
University
in Ithaca, New York
, United
States
- Samford Hall
located on the campus of Auburn
University
in Auburn
, Alabama
- Allen-Bradley
Division Rockwell Automation
Clock Tower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, United
States
- City
Hall, Minneapolis
, Minnesota
, United
States
- Saint
Agnes Church St.
Paul, Minnesota
, United
States
- Sather Tower
, University of California,
Berkeley
, California
- Philadelphia City Hall
, Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania
, United
States
- Memorial Tower
, Louisiana State University
, United
States
- Clock
Tower, Rome,
Georgia
, United
States
- Cathedral of San Agustin
bell/clock tower in Laredo, Texas
, United States
- Ferry Building
, San Francisco
, California
, United States
- University
of Texas Health Science Center Clock Tower in Laredo,
Texas
, United States
- Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower
, Baltimore
, Maryland
- Chapel Hall,
Gallaudet
University
, Washington DC
, United States
- Webster County Courthouse
, Fort Dodge, Iowa
South America
Europe
- Clock
Tower
, Palace of Westminster
, London
, England
(Big Ben is the name of the bell
inside)
- Dipylon Clock
Tower in the Carlsberg
District, Copenhagen
, Denmark
- Spasskaya Tower, Moscow

- Einsiedeln Abbey
, Switzerland
- Warsaw
Palace of Culture and Science
, Warsaw
, Poland
- Clock
Tower of Saint Nicolas church,
Kozani
, Greece
- Joseph
Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower
, The University of Birmingham
, England
- Central railway station,
Helsinki
, Finland
- Sibiu Evangelical Cathedral
, Sibiu
, Romania
- City Hall, Cardiff
, Wales
- Victoria Tower
, Liverpool
, England
- Clock Tower, Clevedon
, England
Gallery
Image:GGSclocktower.jpg|Clocktower at
Geelong
Grammar School
, Victoria, Australia
Image:Houses.of.parliament.overall.arp.jpg|The
Clock Tower
, Palace of Westminster
, London
, England
(commonly referred to as Big
Ben)Image:Hoboclock.jpg|The Ferry
Terminal Clock Tower
, Hoboken, New Jersey
Image:Rajabai-Tower.jpg|The Rajabai Tower
, South
Mumbai
, India
Image:clock tower.jpg|The Clock Tower,
Secunderabad
, Andhra
pradesh
, India
Image:Kremlin Spasskaya Tower.jpg|The
Spasskaya Tower, Moscow
Image:Faisalabad Clock-tower.jpeg|Clock
Tower
, Faisalabad
, Pakistan
Image:Clock Tower Multan.jpeg|Multan
Clock Tower, Pakistan
Image:Clk_Towe_Slk.jpg|Clock Tower,
Sialkot
, Pakistan
Image:PKiN w W-wie.JPG|Warsaw
Palace of Culture and Science
, the second highest clock clock
towerFile:SCHS Bell Tower3.jpeg|The Clock Tower Building
of The Chinese High School
, Singapore
Image:Einsiedeln tower clocks.jpg|Einsiedeln Abbey
, Switzerland
Image:Mcgraw.jpg|McGraw Tower at Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York
Image:AuburnUniversity-SamfordHall.jpg|Samford Hall
located on the campus of Auburn
University
in Auburn
, Alabama
Image:TSTClockTower.jpg|The Clock
Tower
at Tsim
Sha Tsui
, Kowloon
, Hong
Kong
was part of the former Kowloon
Station
Image:Peace Tower and Centennial
Flame.jpg|Peace
Tower
, Parliament Hill
, Ottawa
, Ontario
Image:mamatsios.jpg|Clock Tower of Saint Nicolas church, Kozani
, Greece
Image:Evangelical_cathedral_sibiu.JPG|Sibiu Lutheran Cathedral
, Sibiu
, Romania
Image:MalayCollegeClockTower.jpg|Malay
College Kuala Kangsar
, MalaysiaImage:Central Station Sydney.jpg|Central
Terminal
, Sydney, AustraliaImage:Star Ferry
Pier in Central, Hong Kong.JPG | The old Star
Ferry pier in Central, Hong Kong
Image:Chamberlain_clock_tower.jpg|Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock
Tower
, The University of
Birmingham
, tallest clock tower in England
made by Smith of
Derby (commonly referred as Old Joe)File:Mississauga
city hall 2005.jpg|Clock tower of the Mississauga City Hall in Mississauga
, Ontario
Image:Allen-Bradley.jpg|Allen-Bradley Division Rockwell Automation Clock Tower in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Image:Minneapolis City Hall.jpg|City Hall,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Image:Sather-Tower.jpg|Sather
Tower
, University of California,
Berkeley
Image:Rome_Clock_Tower.jpg|Clock Tower,
Rome,
Georgia
Image:San Agustin Cathedral Tower.JPG|The
Cathedral of San Agustin
bell/clock tower in Laredo, Texas
.Image:Ferrybuilding1.jpg|Ferry
Building
, San Francisco, California
Image:UTHSCSA Laredo Clock
Tower.JPG|University
of Texas Health Science Center in Laredo, Texas
Image:Helsinki Railway Station
20050604.jpg|Central railway station,
Helsinki
, Helsinki
, Finland
Image:Black_Church_Brasov.jpg|Biserica
Neagră
, Braşov
, Romania
Image:St John ba Harim2.jpg|Ein Kerem
, "St. John be Harim" monastery, Israel
Image:Old Parish Church of Peebles Clock
Tower.jpg|Clock Tower, Old Parish Church of
Peebles
, Peebles
, Scotland
Image:Botevgrad clock tower.jpg|Botevgrad
, Bulgaria
's clock tower is a local
symbolImage:Berkovica3.JPG|Berkovitsa
Image:Ayer_Mill_View.jpg|22 Foot Diameter
clock tower of Ayer Mill, Lawrence, Massachusetts
, USAFile:Clock Tower Prilep.jpg|Prilep
, Macedonia
's clock towerFile:TheHenryFordMuseumClockToweratNight.jpg|Clock
tower at The
Henry Ford
in MichiganFile:5 faced clock
tower Dehradun.jpg|5 faced Clock tower at Dehradun
See also
References
- History of PKiN in a nutshell.
- Joseph V. Noble; Derek J. de Solla Price: The Water Clock
in the Tower of the Winds, American Journal of
Archaeology, Vol. 72, No. 4 (1968), pp. 345-355 (353)
- Abdel Aziz al-Jaraki (2007), When Ridhwan al-Sa’ati Anteceded Big Ben by More
than Six Centuries, Foundation for Science Technology and
Civilisation.
- Clocks, Encyclopaedia Britannica 5, 835 (1951).
- Frederick Tupper, Jr., 'Anglo-Saxon Dæg-Mæl', Publications
of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol. 10, No. 2
(1895), p. 130, citing Archæologia, v, 416.
- JB
Joyce
External links