Cleveland Tower - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cleveland Tower, designed by Ralph Adams Cram

Ralph Adams Cram

Ralph Adams Cram FAIA, , was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partnerships in which he worked.-Early life:Cram was born on December 16, 1863 at Hampton Falls, New...

, is a prominent landmark

Landmark

This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...

of Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. It is one of the defining architectural features of the Collegiate Gothic

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

Graduate College

Princeton University Graduate College

The Graduate College at Princeton University is a residential college which serves as the center of graduate student life at Princeton. It was dedicated on October 22, 1913, during the tenure of the first dean of the Graduate School, Andrew Fleming West and was the first residential college in the...

, inspired by Boston College's

Boston College

Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

Gasson Hall

Gasson Hall is a building on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is named after the 13th president of Boston College, Thomas I. Gasson, SJ, considered BC's "second founder."-History:...

. The tower was built in 1913 as a memorial to former U.S. President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

, who also served as a university trustee. A bust

Bust (sculpture)

A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...

of the former president is the centerpiece of the grand chamber at the tower's ground level.

Carillon

The tower's carillon

Carillon

A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...

was dedicated on June 17, 1927. The class of 1892 presented the bells as their 35th reunion gift to the university. The English foundry Gillett & Johnston

Gillett & Johnston

Gillett and Johnston is a clock and formerly bell manufacturing business in Croydon, England.-History:William Gillett started a clock making business on Union Road in Croydon, England in 1844. Charles Bland became a partner in 1854 and the company became known as Gillet and Bland. In 1877, Arthur...

cast the original 35 bells. A plaque near the tower's entrance reads:

The Class of Eighteen Ninety Two presents the carillon in this tower to Princeton University with love and gratitude and the hope that its bells may ever inspire coming generations of Princeton men to maintain the traditions of their alma mater in the service of God and of their country

After decades of varying use and maintenance, the bells were rededicated on June 13, 1993. The Class of 1892 Bells are now one of the largest carillons in the world with 67 bells and a bourdon

Bourdon (bell)

The bourdon is the heaviest of the bells that belong to a musical instrument, especially a chime or a carillon, and produces its lowest tone....

(G) weighing 12,996 pounds. The Chapel Music Program maintains the carillon program with assistance from an endowment by the class of 1892. The bells play Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, except during exam periods. The summer programs include performances by international guests. A carillon practice room is also housed in the Graduate College basement.

Carillon

See also