Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower
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The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, or colloquially Old Joe, is a clock tower and campanile located in Chancellor's court at the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
, in the suburb of
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
. It is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world, although its actual height is the subject of some confusion. The university lists it as , , and 100 metres (328 ft) tall, the last of which is supported by other sources. In a lecture in 1945, Mr C. G. Burton, secretary of the University, stated that "the tower stands high, the clock dials measure in diameter, the length of the clock hands are , and the bell weighs ". The tower was built to commemorate
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the C ...
, 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 John Henry Poynting FRS (9 September 185230 March 1914) was an English physicist. He was the first professor of physics at Mason Science College from 1880 to 1900, and then the successor institution, the University of Birmingham until his deat ...
. A prominent landmark in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, the grade II* listed 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
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
campus by architects
Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in pa ...
and
Ingress Bell Edward Ingress Bell (1837–1914) was an English architect of the late 19th century, and early 20th century, who worked for many years with Sir Aston Webb. Bell was born in Ingress Park, Greenhithe, Kent, and had already undertaken commissi ...
, the tower was constructed between 1900–1908, and stood at the centre of a semicircle of matching red brick buildings. The tower is modelled on the
Torre del Mangia The Torre del Mangia is a tower in Siena, in the Tuscany region of Italy. Built in 1338-1348, it is located in the Piazza del Campo, Siena's main square, next to the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall). When built it was one of the tallest secular tow ...
in
Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
. The original tower designs were amended due to Chamberlain's great admiration for the Italian city's campanile. On 1 October 1905, the '' Birmingham Post'' reported that Chamberlain had announced to the University Council an anonymous gift of £50,000 (the donor in fact was Sir Charles Holcroft). This anonymous gift was announced some two months later in the ''Birmingham Post'' as "to be intended for the erection of a tower in connection with the new buildings at
Bournbrook Bournbrook is an industrial and residential district in southwest Birmingham, England, in both the Selly Oak Council Ward and the Parliamentary District of Selly Oak. Prior to what is commonly termed the Greater Birmingham Act, which came in ...
at a cost estimated by the architects at £25,000. The tower, it was suggested, would be upwards of in height, and would not only form the main architectural feature of the University but would be useful in connection with the Physics Department and as a record tower. In 1940, Sir
Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapon ...
used the tower for radar experiments. The tower remained the tallest structure in Birmingham until 1965, when construction on the tall
BT Tower The BT Communication Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. Originally named the Museum Radio Tower (after the adjacent Museum telephone exchange), it became better known by its unoff ...
was completed in the
Jewellery Quarter The Jewellery Quarter is an area of central Birmingham, UK, in the north-western area of Birmingham City Centre, with a population of around 19,000 people in a area. The Jewellery Quarter is Europe's largest concentration of businesses invol ...
area of the city. However, Old Joe is still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the UK. The asteroid
10515 Old Joe 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...
, discovered in 1989, is named in the clock tower's honour. There is a superstition that if students walk through the tower's archway when it chimes, that they will fail their degree.


Description

The base is solid concrete, square by thick, with foundations that extend below ground to ensure stability. Joyce of Whitchurch built the clock, the face of which is across, the largest bell weighs with all the bells together weighing ; the minute hand is long, the hour hand is across, the pendulum is long. The clock hands are made out of sheet
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
. There are ten floors served by an electrical lift in the SW corner. The tower was built from the inside, without scaffolding, up to the level of the balcony. It is built of Red
Accrington brick Accrington bricks, or Nori, are a type of iron-hard engineering brick, produced in Altham near Accrington, Lancashire, England from 1887 to 2008 and again from 2015. They were famed for their strength, and were used for the foundations of the B ...
with
Darley Dale Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, on the River Derwent and the A6 road. The town forms part ...
dressings and tapers from square to below the balcony. Owing to its having been built from the inside it was not pointed and had to be pointed in 1914 and was subsequently
repointed Repointing is the process of renewing the pointing, which is the external part of mortar joints, in masonry construction. Over time, weathering and decay cause voids in the joints between masonry units, usually in bricks, allowing the undesirable e ...
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 Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, the latter having served as the inspiration for Sather Tower at
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. The final design is thought to have been inspired by
Torre del Mangia The Torre del Mangia is a tower in Siena, in the Tuscany region of Italy. Built in 1338-1348, it is located in the Piazza del Campo, Siena's main square, next to the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall). When built it was one of the tallest secular tow ...
which is of similar design but for the clock being placed towards the bottom of the tower. David Lodge's novel ''
Changing Places ''Changing Places'' (1975) is the first "campus novel" by British novelist David Lodge. The subtitle is "A Tale of Two Campuses", and thus both the title and subtitle are literary allusions to Charles Dickens' ''A Tale of Two Cities''. It is t ...
'' tells the story of exchange of professors between the universities of
Rummidge Rummidge is a fictional city used by David Lodge in some of his novels, particularly ''Changing Places'', '' Small World: An Academic Romance'', and '' Nice Work''. It is based on the English city of Birmingham, colloquially known as Brummagem, a ...
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 The Leaning Tower of Pisa ( it, torre pendente di Pisa), or simply, the Tower of Pisa (''torre di Pisa'' ), is the ''campanile'', or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unst ...
on campus.


References

;General * * *


External links


A 360° view of the Clock Tower
{{University of Birmingham Towers completed in 1908 University of Birmingham History of Birmingham, West Midlands Bell towers in the United Kingdom Individual clocks in England Clock towers in the United Kingdom Towers in the West Midlands (county) Grade II* listed buildings in Birmingham Memorials to Joseph Chamberlain 1908 establishments in England