 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Rajabai Clock Tower" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Rajabai Tower | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rajabai Clock Tower in 2009 | |
 Interactive map of the Rajabai Tower area | |
| General information | |
| Type | Clock tower |
| Architectural style | Venetian andGothic |
| Location | Mumbai, India |
| Coordinates | 18°55′47″N72°49′48″E / 18.92964°N 72.82999°E /18.92964; 72.82999 |
| Construction started | 1 March 1869; 156 years ago (1869-03-01) |
| Completed | November 1878; 147 years ago (1878-11) |
| Cost | ₹ 550,000 |
| Client |  Maharashtra |
| Height | 280 feet (85 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Buff coloured Kurla stone |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | SirGeorge Gilbert Scott |
| Other information | |
| Public transit access |  Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus;Churchgate |
| Criteria | Cultural: (ii) (iv) |
| Designated | 2018(43rdsession) |
| Part of | Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai |
| Reference no. | 1480 |
TheRajabai Tower is aclock tower inMumbai, India. It is in the confines of theFort campus of theUniversity of Mumbai. It stands at a height of 85 m (280 ft or 25 storeys). The tower is part ofThe Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai, which was added to the list ofWorld Heritage Sites in 2018.[1]
The Rajabai Clock Tower was designed by SirGeorge Gilbert Scott, an English architect.[2] He modeled it onBig Ben in London. The foundation stone was laid on 1 March 1869 and construction was completed in November 1878. The total cost of construction came to ₹550,000, a large amount of money for the time period. A portion of the total cost of construction was donated byPremchand Roychand Jain, a wealthy broker who founded theBombay Stock Exchange on the condition that the tower be named after his mother Rajabai.[3]
Premchand Roychand's mother was blind and as a staunch follower ofJain religion, she was supposed to consume her dinner before the evening. Legend says that the evening bell of the tower helped her to know the time without anyone's help.[4]
The tower was closed to the public after it became a frequent spot for those attempting suicide.
The tower was built in a fusion ofVenetian andGothic styles. It is built out of the locally available buff colouredKurla stone. The tower has one of the beststained glass windows in the city.[4]
The ground floor has two side rooms, each measuring 56 ft × 27.5 ft (17.1 m × 8.4 m). The tower forms a carriage porch 2.4 m2 (26 ft2), and a spiral staircase vestibule of 2.6 m2 (28 ft2). The Tower, over the carriage porch, has a square form up to the gallery at the top of the first level which is at a height of 68 feet (21 m) from the ground. The form changes from a square to anoctagon and the height from this gallery to the top of the tower is 118 feet (36 m) and the third stage to the top of the finial is 94 feet (29 m), thus making a total height of 280 feet (85 m).
During its time, it was the tallest structure in the city of Mumbai.
During the 19th century it played the tunes of "Home! Sweet Home!" and "A Handel Symphony", out of a total of sixteen tunes, which changed four times a day. It currently chimes only one tune every 15 minutes.
From October 2013 to 11 May 2015, the tower underwent restoration work under the observation of Anita Garware (Heritage Society), Rajan Welukar (Vice-Chancellor; University of Mumbai) andN Chandrasekar (CEO, Tata Consultancy Services). It reopened in March 2015 after renovation.[5]
The restoration efforts were recognised by UNESCO in 2018 when the Library and the Rajabai Clock Tower received the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation.[6]
| Pre-colonial | |
|---|---|
| Colonial | |
| Beaches | |
| Places of worship | |
| Cultural | |
| Boulevards | |
| Districts | |
| Shopping | |
| Buildings | |
| Parks, zoos and stadia | |
| Museums | |
| Forts | |
| Restaurants & bars | |
| >250m |
|
|---|---|
| 150-250m |
|
| Proposed |
|
| Tallest timeline |
|
Authority control databases: Geographic |
|---|
