The Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, also known as the Jubilee Clock Tower, is an

Indo-Saracenic Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was a Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and gov ...

style

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

within George Town in the

Malaysian state Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, which form the primary administrative divisions of the country. Eleven states and two territories are part of Peninsular Malaysia, while two states and one territory ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. Located at the intersection of

Light Street Maryland Route 2 (MD 2) is the longest state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from Solomons Island in Calvert County north to an intersection with U.S. Route 1 (US 1)/ US 40 Truck (North Avenue) in Baltimore. The route ...

and Beach Street, it was built to commemorate the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

History

Background

In 1821, a small watering reservoir was first completed at this site. Fed by an aqueduct commencing in the

Penang Botanic Gardens The Penang Botanic Gardens is a botanical garden within the city of George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. Situated at Jalan Air Terjun (Waterfall Road), it is also colloquially known as the Waterfall Gardens because of the cascading w ...

, water was then supplied to shipping via a timber jetty projecting out into the bay. The building of a clock tower at Weld Quay was planned during the 100th anniversary of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's settlement in Penang, but it ultimately came to nothing. When the

was drawing close in 1897, the municipal government of Penang had formed a committee to discuss plans for memorialising the monarch. The Chinese business magnate Cheah Chen Eok had offered to build a memorial clock tower for the occasion. His offer was taken and he became the sole contributor of the memorial, pledging a total of 30,000 British Trade Dollars towards its construction.

Design competitions and construction

A design competition for the clock tower was launched by the municipality in July 1897, with a first prize of $150 and $50 for second. Robert Peirce, the municipal engineer won the first prize while the second prize was taken by

Swan & Maclaren Swan & Maclaren Group is an architecture and urban design firm. One of the oldest architectural firms in the country, it was formerly known as Swan & Maclaren and Swan & Lermit, and was one of the most prominent architectural firms in Singapore ...

. After the committee had decided that all of the competitors needed to modify their designs, the first competition was scrapped to prevent unfairness towards competitors that did not won any prizes, although the winners still got to keep theirs. The competition was relaunched in January 1898, with Robert Peirce winning first prize again and the Penang Foundry Company taking second. After much deliberation, the site for the clock tower was chosen at a land between Fort Road,

and the moat of

Fort Cornwallis , location = George Town, Penang , country = Malaysia , image = Fort Cornwallis, Penang 2023 01.jpg , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Malaysia Penang George Town central , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ge ...

in 1900. At that point, the construction costs had greatly risen so Cheah had to pledge an additional $5,000 to cover for it. Construction of the clock tower was commenced in July 1900 and completed 2 years later. An opening ceremony was held on 23 July 1902, officiated by Cheah Chen Eok, James Wilson Hallifax, the President of the Municipal Commissioners of Penang and James Kortright Birch, the Acting Resident Counsillor of Penang. In the ceremony Cheah entrusted the key of the clock tower over to Hallifax. The clock was then set going by Birch's wife.

World War II

The clock tower was damaged by Japanese bombings during the

Malayan campaign The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allies of World War II, Allied and Axis powers, Axis forces in British Malaya, Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the World War ...

. This, combined with Allied bombings of the area had caused the tower to lean slightly. After the Japanese Occupation, the clock and chimes were repaired in 1946.

Present

The clock tower was restored as part of the North Seafront Masterplan at the cost of RM150,000, which were fully funded by the

Penang Island City Council The Penang Island City Council ( ) is the local government that administers the city of George Town, which includes the entirety of Penang Island. The city council, which has jurisdiction over an area of , falls under the purview of the Penang ...

. Restoration works began in August 2019 and finished in December 2020. 20190823 Jubilee Clock Tower-1

Architecture

The tower was designed by Robert Peirce, the municipal engineer of Penang, and its construction was carried out by Barnett & Stark, with Lee Ah Kong as contractor. The general style of the tower is

. The tower is 60 feet (183 metres) high from the ground to the centre of the clock and 97 feet (30 metres) to the top of the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. Each of the 60 feet represents the years of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's reign until her

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

. The ground floor is 5 feet (1.5 metres) above road level and could be entered by a flight of broaded steps. The entrance door is octagonal with carved and moulded cornices at each angle. In each face of the tower is a small lion's head that could discharge water into a basin below, and at about the floor level are similar small heads that could fulfill the function for drinking. Around the base of the tower is a circular basin, 28 feet (8.5 metres) in diameter, with a drinking trough. At four equidistant points of the basin are square shafts with recessed panels. Around the top of the tower's octagonal portions below the base of the moulded cornices are the following inscription: "This Clock Tower was presented to Penang by Cheah Chen Eok Esq. in commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 1837-1897." There were four ornamental bracket lamps fixed on each face of the octagon. The clock dials are placed in panels above the cornices which are formed by circular moulded columns. Above the dials is a belfry containing the five bells. The bellfry itself has a cupola roof covered with a sheet of copper. The bells collectively weights 21 tons (21.3 tonnes). The bells chimed the Westminster quarters. The clock was made by Gellett & Johnston of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

. It is a 36-hour clock requiring winding every day. The room where the dials of the clock are has four windows of

opal glass Milk glass is an opaque or translucent, milk white or colored glass that can be blown or pressed into a wide variety of shapes. First made in Venice in the 16th century, colors include blue, pink, yellow, brown, black, and white. Principle Mi ...

, and originally were illuminated at night by

acetylene Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is u ...

. The actual fixing of the clock was done by Ebert of Penang.

Materials

The clock tower was planned to be built with granite but estimates given by the tenders was too expensive, so bricks and cement were used instead. Most of the materials comprising the tower was found locally, and the work of the tower itself was also locally done. The only portion of the tower which was not the result of local work was the big clock in the tower, which had to be brought from Europe.

References

{{Malaysian historical architectures and sites 1902 establishments in British Malaya Buildings and structures in George Town, Penang Clock towers in Malaysia Inclined towers in Malaysia Towers completed in 1902 British colonial architecture in Malaysia Tourist attractions in George Town, Penang Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria