Visiting Penang"s Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower
Back in the heyday of British influence over the Straits, Penang was a crown jewel of the empire. At the height of the colony's prosperity, upon the Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria, the local upper class decided to make a show of support by building a Jubilee clock.
Penang-born businessman Cheah Chen Eok volunteered to raise the funds himself. A loyal British subject, Cheah was a first-generation Penangite who started as a ship chandler, later becoming the opium superintendent of all Malaya (what is now peninsular Malaysia).
Fired up with British patriotism, Cheah put in $35,000 Straits dollars of his own money towards the construction of the clock tower on the junction of Lebuh Light and Lebuh Pantai.
Construction started in 1897, but was not completed until 1902, by which time Queen Victoria had passed on and her son, Edward VII, had already taken the throne.
Penang's Memorial Clock rises 60 feet over George Town, Penang; the number is supposed to symbolize the length of Queen Victoria's reign to 1897, 60 years. The six steps ascending to the clock entrance also allude to the length of the Queen's rule, denoting decades instead of years.
The tower's design betrays Moorish influences, from the horseshoe arches over the windows on the tower's second tier to the cupola at its very top. Two four-sided higher tiers ascend from an octagonal base: the lower tier is faced with windows, the higher one with clocks. The tower is crowned with four Roman pillars that terminate in the aforementioned cupola, which gleams gold in the Penang sun.
An inscription on the octagonal base reads: "This clock tower was presented to Penang by Cheah Chen Eok in commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 1937-1897."
The tower leans slightly to one side, the effect of Japanese bombardment that flattened the civic precinct of George Town in 1941.
Located on the intersection of Lebuh Light and Lebuh Pantai, the Memorial Clock is only a short walk away from Fort Cornwallis, at the junction where the old Penang government houses border George Town's business district. Click here to see the Clock Tower's location on Google Maps. From the Clock Tower, cross Lebuh Light to Lebuh Pantai to explore the rest of George Town, starting with lunch at Sri Weld Food Court only five minutes' walk away.
Penang-born businessman Cheah Chen Eok volunteered to raise the funds himself. A loyal British subject, Cheah was a first-generation Penangite who started as a ship chandler, later becoming the opium superintendent of all Malaya (what is now peninsular Malaysia).
Fired up with British patriotism, Cheah put in $35,000 Straits dollars of his own money towards the construction of the clock tower on the junction of Lebuh Light and Lebuh Pantai.
Construction started in 1897, but was not completed until 1902, by which time Queen Victoria had passed on and her son, Edward VII, had already taken the throne.
Architecture of the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock
Penang's Memorial Clock rises 60 feet over George Town, Penang; the number is supposed to symbolize the length of Queen Victoria's reign to 1897, 60 years. The six steps ascending to the clock entrance also allude to the length of the Queen's rule, denoting decades instead of years.
The tower's design betrays Moorish influences, from the horseshoe arches over the windows on the tower's second tier to the cupola at its very top. Two four-sided higher tiers ascend from an octagonal base: the lower tier is faced with windows, the higher one with clocks. The tower is crowned with four Roman pillars that terminate in the aforementioned cupola, which gleams gold in the Penang sun.
An inscription on the octagonal base reads: "This clock tower was presented to Penang by Cheah Chen Eok in commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 1937-1897."
The tower leans slightly to one side, the effect of Japanese bombardment that flattened the civic precinct of George Town in 1941.
Getting to the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock
Located on the intersection of Lebuh Light and Lebuh Pantai, the Memorial Clock is only a short walk away from Fort Cornwallis, at the junction where the old Penang government houses border George Town's business district. Click here to see the Clock Tower's location on Google Maps. From the Clock Tower, cross Lebuh Light to Lebuh Pantai to explore the rest of George Town, starting with lunch at Sri Weld Food Court only five minutes' walk away.