Visit the Clocktower at University of Melbourne and see the visible remaining buildings from the last century and earlier.
https://www.hiddenmelbourne.com.au/VTNode/UnimelbOldArtsTower
The Old Arts building at the University of Melbourne was built between 1919 and 1924 at a cost of seventy-one
thousand pounds. Designed by Chief Architect of the Public Works Department, S C Brittingham, it was the last
stone building to be constructed on the campus. It is located adjacent to the Old Quadrangle, and forms part of
the central core of the University campus. The two storeyed complex is in a Tudor-Gothic style. The brick
construction has bluestone footings, and the exterior, including buttresses, is clad in Kyneton freestone. A fivelevel
castellated and turreted clock tower, containing the foundation stone laid in October 1921, rises above the
Old Arts building and adjacent Old Quadrangle, to visually dominate the site. Its bell was cast by Gillett and
Johnston of Croydon, England and was installed in 1925.
The Old Arts building, with its tower, forms an important landmark defining the oldest precinct on the university
campus. The inclusion of a tower reflected the original intention to include a tower in the unbuilt south wing of the
Old Quadrangle. Architecturally, the Old Arts building draws its inspiration from the original university buildings,
forming a coherent visual unit with them. It was the last stone building to be constructed on the campus and
symbolises the historical association between the arts faculty, the earliest and largest school of university, with
the Law Building and Quadrangle, the oldest building on the campus and where arts subjects were first taught.
Whilst you linger there, please look up at the magnificent drive mechanism for the clockfaces.
