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| The-Rajabai-Clock-Tower-and-the-Mumbai-University- Hindustan Times |
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| The Rajabai Clock Tower,Mumbai. Alamy |
Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, an English architect, it is based on the model on Big Ben in London. It took nine years to complete the construction work that began on 1 March 1869; work completed in November 1878. The total cost of construction was Rs.550,000, a whooping sum in those days. A portion of the construction cost was borne by one Premchand Roychand, a highly successful broker who founded the Bombay Stock Exchange. The donation was made by him on condition that the tower must be be named after his blind mother Rajabai. The evening chime of the tower helped her to know the time for her dinner without anyone's help.
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| Rajabai Clock Tower,Mumbai. TTripHobo |
Made of locally available buff coloured Kurla stone, the tower is a good example of the the blend of Venetian and Gothic styles. The tower, it is said, has one of the best stained glass windows in the city.
The tower has a ground floor with two big side rooms, 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 shape up to the gallery at the top of the first level (68 feet or 20.7 m) from the ground. The structural form changes from a square to an octagon and the height from this gallery to the top of the tower is 118 feet (36 m). The third stage to the top of the finial is 94 feet (28.7 m), thus making a total height of 280 feet (85 m).Rajabai Clock Tower is brightly lit during the night. It currently chimes only one tune every 15 minutes. During the British rule under the crown the tower clock could play sixteen tunes; some were "Rule Britannia", "God Save the King", A Handel Symphony",etc. The tunes changed four times a day.
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| Rajabai Clock Tower,Mumbai. The Hindu |
Tit-Bits:
01. The 2013-2015 major restoration work was the one first since its construction in 1878.
02. The English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott who designed the Rajbai clock tower who did not make a visit to India for the purpose.
03. The beautiful sculptures (on the surface of the clock structure) and interiors (of the adjoining library) were made by Indian artisans and the students of JJ School of Art under the guidance of Sir Lockwood Kipling, their art teacher and illustrator.
04. The clock tower and the library are built with four types of stones — Porbandar limestone, basalt, red Dharangdhara and Malad stone (Malad and Kurla regions of Bombay had large stone quarries in those days).
http://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/insider-s-guide-to-rajabai-clock-tower/story-9Y1gNvrd1Yj1ormNC2DegL.html.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajabai_Clock_Tower
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