2A0A:EF40:7D1:CE01:4DBC:66A0:69A2:5A99: As the clocktower in Mortegliano is taller, I have changed accordingly.

2025-09-14T20:32:04Z

As the clocktower in Mortegliano is taller, I have changed accordingly.

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{{for|the clock in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter|Chamberlain Clock}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower
| image = File:Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Tower.jpg
| image_alt =
| image_size =
| caption =
| start_date = 1900
| completion_date = 1908
| map_type =
| map_alt =
| map_caption =
| building_type = [[Campanile]]
| architectural_style =
| structural_system =
| highest_prev = [[St Martin in the Bull Ring]]
| highest_next = [[BT Tower (Birmingham)|BT Tower]]
| highest_region = [[Birmingham]]
| highest_start = 1908
| highest_end = 1965
| cost =
| location = University of Birmingham
| location_town = Birmingham
| location_country = England
| coordinates = {{coord|52.4499|-1.9307|display=title,inline|region:GB-BIR_type:landmark}}
{{Designation list
| embed = yes
| designation1 = Grade II* Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Chamberlain Tower, University of Birmingham
| designation1_type =
| designation1_criteria =
| designation1_date = 8 July 1982
| delisted1_date =
| designation1_partof =
| designation1_number = {{NHLE|num=1210306|short=yes}}
}}
}}
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]], in the suburb of [[Edgbaston]]. It is the [[List_of_tallest_clock_towers|tallest clock tower]] in the UK, although its actual height is the subject of some confusion. The university lists it variously as {{convert|110|m|ft|0}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.studyhere.bham.ac.uk/documents/B2362_Campus_tour_booklet_AW.pdf|title=Campus tour booklet|publisher=University of Birmingham|access-date=9 August 2008|archive-date=2 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902181940/http://www.studyhere.bham.ac.uk/documents/B2362_Campus_tour_booklet_AW.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{convert|99|m|ft|0}},<ref name="Trail">{{cite web|url=http://www.about.bham.ac.uk/centenary/heritagetrail/clocktower.shtml|title=Heritage trail: Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, completed 1909|publisher=University of Birmingham|access-date=14 July 2009}}</ref> and 100 metres (328 ft)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/campus-destination/old-joe.aspx|title=Old Joe - University of Birmingham|website=www.birmingham.ac.uk|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-date=5 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105120541/https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/campus-destination/old-joe.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> tall, the last of which is supported by other sources.<ref name=CTBUH/><ref name=50tallest>{{cite web |url=http://www.skyscrapernews.com/snuk_list.htm |title=Britain's tallest 100 buildings by height|publisher=Skyscraper News |access-date=9 August 2008}}</ref> In a lecture in 1945, Mr C. G. Burton, secretary of the University, stated that "the tower stands {{convert|329|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}} high, the clock dials measure {{convert|17|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}} in diameter, the length of the clock hands are {{convert|10|and|6|ft|m|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}}, and the bell weighs {{convert|5|long ton|t|abbr=off|disp=sqbr}}".<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=The Ivory Tower |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000768/19451110/104/0003 |newspaper=Birmingham Mail |location=Birmingham |date=10 November 1945 |access-date=28 May 2016 }}</ref>

The tower was built to commemorate [[Joseph Chamberlain]], the first [[Chancellor (education)|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 [[listed building|grade II* listed]]<ref>{{NHLE |num=1210306 |desc=Chamberlain Tower |access-date=6 October 2021}}</ref> tower can be seen for miles around the [[campus]], and has become synonymous with the University itself.

==History==

[[File:QE Hospital viewed from UOB clock tower.jpg|thumb|View from the tower, looking west, towards the [[Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham|Queen Elizabeth Hospital]] ]]

Designed as part of the initial phase of the [[Edgbaston]] campus by architects [[Aston Webb]] and [[Ingress Bell]], 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]] in [[Siena]].<ref>{{Cite web | first = W.B. | last = Stephens | title = A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7 | year = 1964 | pages = 43–57 | location = London | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22961 }}</ref> 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 [[Holcroft Baronets|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]] at a cost estimated by the architects at £25,000. The tower, it was suggested, would be upwards of {{convert|300|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} 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.<ref>Cheesewright, 1975, p. 55</ref> In 1940, Sir [[Mark Oliphant]] used the tower for radar experiments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2015/02/why-is-there-a-bow-on-old-joe-26-02-15.aspx|title=Why is there a bow on Old Joe?|website=www.birmingham.ac.uk}}</ref>

The tower remained the tallest structure in Birmingham until 1965, when construction on the {{convert|152|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} tall [[British Telecom Tower (Birmingham)|BT Tower]] was completed in the [[Jewellery Quarter]] area of the city. However, Old Joe is still the tallest clock tower in the [[UK]].<ref name=CTBUH>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctbuh.org/Portals/0/Tallest/CTBUH_TallestClockGovernmentPalace.pdf |title=25 tallest clock towers/government structures/palaces |publisher=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat |date=January 2008 |access-date=9 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030215503/http://www.ctbuh.org/Portals/0/Tallest/CTBUH_TallestClockGovernmentPalace.pdf |archive-date=30 October 2008 }}</ref>

The [[asteroid]] [[10515 Old Joe]], discovered in 1989, is named in the clock tower's honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=10515|title=10515 Old Joe (1989 UB3)|publisher=JPL Small-Body Database|access-date=17 February 2008}}</ref> There is a superstition that if students walk through the tower's archway when it chimes, that they will fail their degree.<ref>{{cite web|title=7 Things You'll Only Know if You've Been a Student at Birmingham University|url=http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/22/7-things-youll-only-know-if-youve-been-a-student-at-birmingham-university-4735355/|website=Metro|access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=University's historic clock tower turns red for Cure Leukaemia|url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/02/27-Feb-Universitys-historic-clock-tower-turns-red-for-Cure-Leukaemia.aspx|website=University of Birmingham|access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:University_of_Birmingham_-_original_design.jpg|thumb|Original design for Old Joe as inspired by St. Mark's Campanile, Venice]]
[[File:Inside UOB Clock Tower.JPG|thumb|upright|Interior view looking down from the 8th floor]]
The base is solid concrete, {{convert|50|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} square by {{convert|10|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} thick, with foundations that extend {{convert|328|ft|m|abbr=on}} below ground to ensure stability{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}. [[J. B. Joyce & Co|Joyce of Whitchurch]] built the clock, the face of which is {{convert|5.25|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} across, the largest bell weighs {{convert|13619|lb|kg|1}}<ref>[http://www.towerbells.org/data/GBGreatBells.html Great Bells of the British Isles], TowerBells Website, accessed 14 January 2015</ref> with all the bells together weighing {{convert|20|LT|t|abbr=off}}; the minute hand is {{convert|4.1|m|ftin|abbr=on}} long, the hour hand is {{convert|2|ft|cm|0|abbr=on}} across, the pendulum is {{convert|15|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} long. The clock hands are made out of sheet [[copper]]. There are ten floors served by an electrical lift in the SW corner.<ref>Cheesewright, 1975, p. 57</ref> 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 {{convert|29|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} square to {{convert|23|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} below the balcony.<ref>Braithwaite, 1987, p. 4</ref> Owing to its having been built from the inside it was not pointed and had to be pointed in 1914 and was subsequently [[Repointing|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 (author)|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.<ref>{{cite book | last = Showalter | first = Elaine | title = Faculty Towers: The Academic Novel and Its Discontents | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | location = Oxford | page = 77 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jnpf3RJXnF8C&dq=%22changing+places%22+novel+pisa&pg=PA77 | isbn =978-0-19-928332-3 }}</ref>

==References==

[[File:University Hospital Birmingham carnival revue magazine cover, 1934.jpg|thumb|upright|A representation of "Old Joe", on the cover of the University Hospital Birmingham carnival revue magazine, 1934]]

{{Reflist|30em}}

;General
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Foster|first=A.|title=Birmingham (Pevsner Architectural Guides)|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2005|location=London|isbn=978-0-300-10731-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Cheesewright|first=M.|title=Mirror to Mermaid |publisher=The University of Birmingham Press|year=1975|location=Birmingham|isbn=978-0-7044-0130-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Braithwaite|first=L.|title=University of Birmingham architectural trail|publisher=The University of Birmingham Press|year=1987|location=Birmingham|isbn=978-0-7044-0890-6}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Chamberlain Tower}}
*[http://www.tompoole.co.uk/360/birminghamuni.swf A 360° view of the Clock Tower]

{{BirminghamBuildings}}
{{University of Birmingham}}

[[Category:Towers completed in 1908]]
[[Category:University of Birmingham]]
[[Category:History of Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Bell towers in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Individual clocks in England]]
[[Category:Clock towers in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Towers in the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Birmingham]]
[[Category:Memorials to Joseph Chamberlain]]
[[Category:1908 establishments in England]]

Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower - Revision history

2A0A:EF40:7D1:CE01:4DBC:66A0:69A2:5A99: As the clocktower in Mortegliano is taller, I have changed accordingly.