The use of clock towers dates back to the antiquity. As clock towers became more common, the designers realized that a dial on the outside of the tower would allow the townspeople to read the time whenever they wanted. Clock towers were placed near the centres of towns and were often the tallest structures there. They were therefore placed in towers so the bells would be audible for a long distance. The first clocks didn't have faces, but were solely striking clocks, which sounded bells to call the surrounding community to work or to prayer. Before the middle of the twentieth century, most people did not have watches, and prior to the 18th century even home clocks were rare. Presumably the first depiction of a medieval central European clock tower (without the actual turret clock) in the 13th century by Villard de Honnecourt, entitled: ' cest li masons don orologe' ('this is the house of a clock')Īlthough clock towers are today mostly admired for their aesthetics, they once served an important purpose. It often marks the hour (and sometimes segments of an hour) by sounding large bells or chimes, sometimes playing simple musical phrases or tunes. The mechanism inside the tower is known as a turret clock. Not all clocks on buildings therefore make the building into a clock tower. A clock tower historically fits this definition of a tower and therefore can be defined as any tower specifically built with one or more (often four) clock faces and that can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall.

Structures that do not meet this criterion, are defined as towers.

According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat a building is defined as a building if at least fifty percent of its height is made up of floor plates containing habitable floor area. There are many structures which may have clocks or clock faces attached to them and some structures have had clocks added to an existing structure.

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