Storke Tower is a landmark campanile (bell and clock tower) located on the campus of the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Dedicated for use on September 28, 1969, the 61-bell carillon tower stands tall. It was designed by the San Francisco architecture firm Clark and Morgan.

Structure

The bells range in size from 13 to 4,793 pounds, with the largest bell carrying the university seal and university motto. Other bells carry quotes and dedications, including "The University is not engaged in making ideas safe for students. It is engaged in making students safe for ideas" (

Clark Kerr Clark Kerr (May 17, 1911 – December 1, 2003) was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and twelfth president of the University of California. B ...

) and "These bells ring for the freedom of the press and in tribute to Editor-Publisher Thomas More Storke, whose affection for the University made this building possible." The tower has been affectionately known as "Storke's last erection" by students, reflecting both its unique profile and Thomas Storke's age at the time of its construction. At every hour, an electronic control system plays the

Westminster Quarters The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters or Cambridge Chimes from its place of ...

. The system also strikes a sequence at 10 minutes to every hour which spells out the university motto, "Let There Be Light" (with each of the 10 largest bells assigned a letter of the alphabet). The carillon suffered technical difficulties from 1994 to 1999, in 2004, and again in 2007. Storke Tower is the tallest steel/cement structure in

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

History and use

The architects were the San Francisco firm Clark and Morgan, which was likely the firm of Hervey Parke Clark at the time. The tower is named for Thomas M. Storke, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and U.S. senator who resided in Santa Barbara and helped found UCSB. He also contributed funds to the building of the tower and the Storke Communications Plaza, which is situated at the base of the tower. The Plaza houses the university paper (the ''

Daily Nexus The ''Daily Nexus'' is a campus newspaper at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). ''Daily Nexus'' lineage can be traced to the Santa Barbara State College student newspaper, ''The Eagle'', of the 1930s. After the college becam ...

''), the radio station (

KCSB-FM KCSB-FM (91.9 FM) is a non-commercial, educational radio station located on the UC Santa Barbara campus. KCSB is designed to be educational for both programmers and listeners. UCSB students and other programmers are provided an opportunity to lear ...

), and the yearbook office ( La Cumbre Yearbook); the top of the tower supports cell phone signal transmitters and a KCSB radio antenna. The open-air area of the Plaza contains a large rectangular pond that functioned as a

reflecting pool A reflecting pool, also called a reflection pool, is a water feature found in gardens, parks, and memorial sites. It usually consists of a shallow pool of water, undisturbed by fountain jets, for a reflective surface. Design Reflecting pools are ...

until 2003, when it was transformed into a cost-saving and partially self-sustaining

aquatic ecosystem An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem formed by surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The t ...

including

koi or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...

and

water lilies ''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artisti ...

. There have been occasional carillon recitals and courses in how to play the carillon. The tower has also been part of performance art projects."Feature Photo"
''Daily Nexus'', November 18, 2002 Until the spring of 2005, UC Santa Barbara ROTC cadets used Storke Tower for mountaineering training, rappelling down the tower as a culmination exercise. This practice was discontinued by campus administrators for liability reasons citing student safety and ROTC policies prohibiting the physically disabled from participating in the exercise.

References

External links

Information about Storke Tower
on the UCSB Library website, from August 1999, courtesy of the Internet Archive.
Photos of a tour of Storke Tower
in March 2009, including the carillon's keyboard. * Historical photos from UCSB Photo Services
Storke Tower under constructionBells before installationWorker inside the tower

A performance of "Still Alive" on the UCSB Carillon

Jonathan Coulton Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...

's blog, June 23, 2008. {{UCSB University of California, Santa Barbara buildings and structures Bell towers in the United States Carillons Clock towers in California Towers completed in 1969

Structure

History and use

See also

References

External links