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The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower (), or simply 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 tallest free-standing clock tower in the world, although its actual height is the subject of some confusion. The university lists it as both 〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Campus tour booklet )〕 and tall,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Heritage trail: Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, completed 1909 )〕 whereas other sources state that it is tall.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Britain's tallest 100 buildings by height )〕 The tower was built to commemorate Joseph Chamberlain, the first 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. The nicknames ''Old Joe'', or simply ''The Clock Tower'' are used by the student population and local residents. A prominent landmark in Birmingham, the grade II listed tower can be seen for miles around the campus, and has become synonymous with the University itself. ==History== 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. 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 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 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.〔Cheesewright, 1975, p. 55〕 In 1940, Sir Mark Oliphant used the tower for radar experiments. The tower remained the tallest structure in Birmingham until 1969, when construction on the tall BT Tower was completed in the Jewellery Quarter area of the city. However, Old Joe is still one of the fifty tallest buildings in the UK.〔 The asteroid 10515 Old Joe, discovered in 1989, is named in the clock tower's honour.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=10515 Old Joe (1989 UB3) )〕 There is a superstition that if students walk through the tower's archway when it chimes, that they will fail their degree.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/22/7-things-youll-only-know-if-youve-been-a-student-at-birmingham-university-4735355/ )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/02/27-Feb-Universitys-historic-clock-tower-turns-red-for-Cure-Leukaemia.aspx )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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