Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower
Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower | |
---|---|
Campanile | |
Location | University of Birmingham |
Town or city | Birmingham |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 52°27′00″N 1°55′51″W / 52.4499°N 1.9307°W |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
Official name | Chamberlain Tower, University of Birmingham |
Designated | 8 July 1982 |
Reference no. | 1210306 |
Construction started | 1900 |
Completed | 1908 |
The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, or colloquially Old Joe, is a
The tower was built to commemorate Joseph Chamberlain, the first Chancellor of the University (with the commemoration being carved into the stone at the tower's base), although one of the original suggested names for the clock tower was the "Poynting Tower", after one of the earliest professors at the University, Professor John Henry Poynting.
A prominent landmark in Birmingham, the grade II* listed[8] tower can be seen for miles around the campus, and has become synonymous with the University itself.
History
Designed as part of the initial phase of the
The tower remained the tallest structure in Birmingham until 1965, when construction on the 152 m (498.7 ft) tall
The
Description
The base is solid concrete, 50 ft (15.2 m) square by 10 ft (3.0 m) thick, with foundations that extend 328 ft (100 m) below ground to ensure stability[citation needed]. Joyce of Whitchurch built the clock, the face of which is 5.25 m (17.2 ft) across, the largest bell weighs 13,619 pounds (6,177.5 kg)[15] with all the bells together weighing 20 long tons (20 tonnes); the minute hand is 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) long, the hour hand is 2 ft (61 cm) across, the pendulum is 15 ft (4.6 m) long. The clock hands are made out of sheet copper. There are ten floors served by an electrical lift in the SW corner.[16] The tower was built from the inside, without scaffolding, up to the level of the balcony. It is built of Red Accrington brick with Darley Dale dressings and tapers from 29 ft (8.8 m) square to 23 ft (7.0 m) below the balcony.[17] Owing to its having been built from the inside it was not pointed and had to be pointed in 1914 and was subsequently repointed in 1957 and 1984–85. Its weight, solid brick corners linked by four courses of brick resists the overturning wind forces.
The original design for Old Joe is thought to have been based upon St Mark's Campanile in Venice, the latter having served as the inspiration for Sather Tower at University of California, Berkeley. The final design is thought to have been inspired by Torre del Mangia which is of similar design but for the clock being placed towards the bottom of the tower.
David Lodge's novel Changing Places tells the story of exchange of professors between the universities of Rummidge and Euphoric State, Plotinus (thinly disguised fictional versions of Birmingham and Berkeley), which in the book both have replicas of the Leaning Tower of Pisa on campus.[18]
References
- ^ "Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower Also known as Old Joe". Skyscrapher News.
- ^ "Campus tour booklet" (PDF). University of Birmingham. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
- ^ "Heritage trail: Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, completed 1909". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
- ^ "Old Joe - University of Birmingham". www.birmingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- ^ a b "25 tallest clock towers/government structures/palaces" (PDF). Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. January 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
- ^ "Britain's tallest 100 buildings by height". Skyscraper News. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
- ^ "The Ivory Tower". Birmingham Mail. Birmingham. 10 November 1945. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- ^ Historic England. "Chamberlain Tower (1210306)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Stephens, W.B. (1964). "A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7". London: Oxford University Press. pp. 43–57.
- ^ Cheesewright, 1975, p. 55
- ^ "Why is there a bow on Old Joe?". www.birmingham.ac.uk.
- ^ "10515 Old Joe (1989 UB3)". JPL Small-Body Database. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
- ^ "7 Things You'll Only Know if You've Been a Student at Birmingham University". Metro. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ "University's historic clock tower turns red for Cure Leukaemia". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ Great Bells of the British Isles, TowerBells Website, accessed 14 January 2015
- ^ Cheesewright, 1975, p. 57
- ^ Braithwaite, 1987, p. 4
- ISBN 978-0-19-928332-3.
- General
- Foster, A. (2005). Birmingham (Pevsner Architectural Guides). London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10731-9.
- Cheesewright, M. (1975). Mirror to Mermaid. Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Press. ISBN 978-0-7044-0130-3.
- Braithwaite, L. (1987). University of Birmingham architectural trail. Birmingham: The University of Birmingham Press. ISBN 978-0-7044-0890-6.