The Chinese High School Clock Tower Building, a gazetted national monument in Singapore, is situated in the campus of the integrated Hwa Chong Institution, which incorporates

The Chinese High School The Chinese High School () was an independent school in Singapore offering secondary education. The school merged with Hwa Chong Junior College on 1 January 2005 to form the integrated Hwa Chong Institution. Founded on 21 March 1919, The Chine ...

and Hwa Chong Junior College. Standing at 31 metres tall atop a small knoll on which parts of the campus was built on, the building was completed as part of the campus of

in 1925, funded by generous donations from the Chinese community leaders. It served as an imposing landmark for the Bukit Timah area where it is surrounded by relatively low-rise private housing estates. It was used in tactical military situations during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

in World War II. Its strategic location atop a hill gave any troops stationed in it a good view of the island. It was used by the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

defenders during the Battle of Singapore, as well as during the

Japanese Occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Japanese military forces occupied it after ...

, it was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army for the purpose of surveillance. The tower's four-faced clock was destroyed and removed during World War II, and was restored in the early 1970s, with replacements donated by Seiko. The clock tower went through a series of restoration and expansion in the 1990s, in which a new library was added. On 19 March 1999, two days before the 80th anniversary of the school, the clock tower was gazetted as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

, to mark the significance of the institution as the first Chinese-medium

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

to be built in Southeast Asia catering to the

Overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...

by its founder, Mr Tan Kah Kee.

Architecture & Facilities

The Clock Tower Building is a work by Swan & Maclaren, a renowned firm that also designed the

Sultan Mosque Sultan Mosque or Masjid Sultan is a mosque located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road within the Kampong Glam precinct of the district of Rochor in Singapore. It was named after Sultan Hussain Shah. In 1975, it was designated a national monum ...

, the Former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, Civilian War Memorial, and Raffles Hotel. Neoclassical architectural elements, including a symmetrical plan, the frontal triangular pediment, stately Ionic columns, and arched doorways and windows form distinctive traits of the iconic building. The 36-metre-high clock tower and a cupola, supported by eight small Ionic columns, crowns the tower. The Clock Tower building features eight high roof classrooms catering to the high school section of the institution, previously reserved for the top performing classes. Currently, it serve as venues for students in academic special programmes.

Gallery

File:CHS Tower Block.jpg, Clock Tower Building File:CHS clock tower block sunset.JPG, As seen from a distance during sunset

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese High School Clock Tower Building Bukit Timah Clock towers in Singapore Landmarks in Singapore National monuments of Singapore School buildings completed in 1925 Towers completed in 1925 1925 establishments in Hong Kong