Located at the junction of Chatham Street and Janathipathi Mawatha, this iconic clock tower is one of the older monuments in Colombo.
If you look at it now, you might wonder why such a tower was erected smack in the middle of the busy roads and not in suburban places that house apartments in Colombo. Sri Lanka was lesser developed at the time and this was the tallest building then.
Architecture
The neo classical tower was designed by Mrs. Emily Elizabeth Ward, the wife of the governor of Sri Lanka at that time, and built in 1857. In the beginning, it was just a clock tower, but considering its nearness to the seas, in 1865, lanterns were installed and it was made into a light house too. The clock itself was made by English clockmakers, Dent, who also made the mechanisms for the clock in the Big Ben at Westminster Palace.
After taller buildings came up around the area, like the Capitol TwinPeaks, the light didn’t reach out to the seas and is now used just as a clock tower. The clock in use now was a replacement that was made in 1913 after the original clock was removed due to less illumination.
Fritzjames Stephen is a travel writer, who writes content based on the myriad of experiences and indulgences that the world has to offer travellers across all walks of life.