Atkinson Clock Tower
The Atkinson Clock Tower or Atkinson Memorial Clock Tower is a clock tower in Kota Kinabalu , the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, the oldest standing structure in Kota Kinabalu. The clock tower, built in memory of FG Atkinson, served as a navigation sign for many years and is now part of Sabah's historical heritage.
history
The clock tower was built in memory of Francis George Atkinson . Atkinson was Jesselton's first district officer . After only one and a half years in office, he died on December 28, 1902 at the age of 28 of malaria , then also known as "Borneo fever". In memory of her son, his mother, Mary Edith Atkinson, gave the town of Jesselton a clock with two dials, which - it was later decided - should have its own clock tower. The construction of the tower was commissioned on April 20, 1905. A street was also named after him - Atkinson Drive, which connects Tuaran Road across the range of hills to downtown Kota Kinabalu.
The clock tower originally consisted of Merbau ( Intsia bijuga ), an extremely resistant and termite-proof tropical wood. The construction was funded by Atkinson's friends, and most likely with the assistance of shipbuilders from the naval ships moored in Jesselton Harbor (the carpentry inside the clock tower bears the hallmarks of a ship's carpenter). During the construction phase, the clock was put into operation on April 19, 1905 and the bell could be heard throughout the city. The construction work was finished in 1905. The bell came from the William Potts and Sons bell foundry in Leeds , England .
With a height of 15.24 meters and a footprint of 1.9 × 1.9 meters and crowned by a weather vane with the initials of the four cardinal points, the clock tower faces the city on a hill in front of the city center and Signal Hill . Ships berthing at the landing stage use the bell tower as a navigation aid, as it could be seen from the sea. Although it's hard to imagine that the relatively narrow historic clock tower had ever been a navigation point for ships, the Atkinson Clock Tower served as a navigation sign until the 1950s . However, in the more than a hundred years since its construction, a number of tall commercial buildings have been built on the narrow strip of land between Signal Hill and the sea, blocking the unobstructed view of the sea. In Jesselton's early photographs, however, it is easy to see that the clock tower was once not covered or towered over by any other building.
In the 1950s, the Radio Sabah broadcasting building was behind the bell tower and contemporary witnesses report that the bells struck every half hour in the background.
The Atkinson Clock Tower was listed as a "Historic Building" in 1983 and was added to the Sabah State Heritage List in 1998 as a Grade I listed building. Nevertheless, the clock tower is one of the endangered historical buildings, as its prominent location could be covered by the planned construction of a 16-story shopping mall. A citizens' initiative has been fighting for the withdrawal of the development plan since the plans became known. In the discussion about the Atkinson Clock Tower, the officials did not shy away from denying the clock tower any monumental value or even suggesting that FG Atkinson was an assassin .
On June 21, 2011 it became known that the Central Town and Country Planning Board (CTCPB) , which is responsible for development plans, had contacted other authorities under pressure from the district court, from which the environmental agency then requested an environmental impact assessment with public participation.
Renovations
The clock tower has undergone several changes through repairs and renovations over the years.
In the 1930s, the originally white dial and its black numerals and hands were replaced by a dial with a dark background and white numerals and hands.
During the Second World War , the dial and a number of the clockwork's gears were damaged by machine gun fire. The watchmaker from Jesselton, Wah Chien Chun from Yick Ming Watch Dealers , was commissioned in 1946 to repair the damage and to take care of winding the watch and the technical maintenance of the movement in the future. This task was later continued by his son Wah Kay Yung.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the city's founding in 1959, the Atkinson Clock Tower underwent a thorough renovation. Parts of the wooden structure, weakened by the tropical weather, were replaced with new tropical hardwoods, as were large parts of the roof. The renovation was completed on November 7, 1959. Tragically, the brass plaque attached to the base of the tower was stolen, possibly by metal thieves , shortly after the city's Diamond Jubilee .
In 1961, the Atkinson Clock Tower received new dials made of acrylic glass with a white background and black numerals, which enabled the dial to be illuminated from the inside.
The last major renovation of the structure took place in 2012 under the direction of the Sabah Museum . In addition to the replacement of parts of the wooden structure and a new coat of paint, it was necessary to replace individual components of the movement.
Despite all the renovations and repairs, the clock tower is in exactly the same place as it was when it was inaugurated in 1905.
exhibition
In early 2012, the history and future of the clock tower was the subject of an exhibition at Hotel Sixty3 on Gaya Street. The exhibition was organized by the North Borneo History Enthusiasts (NBHE) as part of the "Bonding With Gaya Street" event and prepared in cooperation with the Sabah Museum , the Sabah State Archives , the Sabah Information Department and the cultural heritage activist Nelson Sokial.
Web links
- Tom Rungitom: Atkinson Clock Tower bell chimed at 3PM (youtube video with the clock chiming at 3 o'clock)
- Richard Nelson Sokial: Atkinson Clock Tower Judicial review: Our fight so far… in: The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Stella Moo: The Atkinson Memorial Clock Tower - Commemorating its Centenary, Sabah Society Journal Vol 22, 2005
- ↑ a b Delay in Atkinson Clock Tower issue causing concern ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 17, 2011; Accessed May 25, 2013
- ↑ a b Atkinson Clock Tower: Govt must reveal plan ( Memento of the original dated December 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 21, 2011; Accessed March 25, 2013.
- ^ Richard Nelson Sokial: Colonial Townships in Sabah: West Coast , chapter The Atkinson Clock Tower , pp. 162-167; Homeland Publisher Sdn Bhd, 2012, page 180, ISBN 978-983-40734-4-2
- ↑ Atkinson Clock Tower to be repaired, restored. , Press release of May 16, 2012; Accessed March 21, 2013
- ^ Borneo Post: Atkinson Clock Tower Exhibition a hit ; Accessed March 25, 2013
Remarks
- ↑ After 1963 renamed Jalan Istana .
- ^ The bell foundry William Potts and Sons , founded in 1883 , became part of the Smith of Derby Group in 1933 . Business is still going on today in the English Derby .
- ↑ The protection was based on the Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Enactment 1997 and the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Enactment 1977 .
Coordinates: 5 ° 58 '55.7 " N , 116 ° 4' 38.4" E