Santa Monica College Clocktower

Architects: Frederic Barienbrock and Andrew F. Murray

Construction: The John Volz Co.

Santa Monica College Clocktower

May 27th, 1955

Concrete, Aluminum, Steel, paint

The Santa Monica College Clock Tower was erected in 1955 as a memorial to the alumni and students who fought and sacrificed their lives in The Second World War. The student body held a vote to decide which of the plan submissions was to be selected, and also provided the entirety of the $18,000 necessary to complete the project. The tower stands approximately 60 feet tall and when it was first built it was located in the main quad of campus, surrounded by both academic and socially oriented spaces.

The clock tower is located at the northeast corner of the SMC campus, between the cafeteria and the letters & science building. It is white, concrete monolithic structure with a circular-triangle shaped base(an equilateral triangle with concave, circular segments). The tops of each side of the tower are adorned with identical, frameless, minimalist, metal clock faces, which consist only of the minute and hour arms, and the hour marks affixed directly to the tower itself. At 63.7 feet tall, it is the tallest object in its immediate vicinity, and among the tallest objects on the campus.

Joseph Hempelmann, Jason Kashefi, Yoel Shamouni, Tzu Wei Chung, Jie I Chen, Joseph Wise, Jing Yun Huang, Benjamin Dearborn, Jennifer Contreras, and Joseph Obering

Monumentality, both size and function, is the defining characteristic of the clocktower, and has been a persistent theme throughout history. Building size, and particularly height, has played an important role in almost every culture.
The ziggurats of Mesopotamia demonstrated the human fascination with verticality and the divinity therein. Such towering structures were used for important religious functions, often having temples at their summits. However, access to these buildings was restricted, and only the privileged elite were allowed to ascend the ziggurat steps and enter the temples. The modern SMC clock tower, on the other hand, uses its height as an egalitarian beacon for all the students, whether as a meeting place or a landmark.

In Greece, a small hilltop on the peninsula of Attica attracted many who understood the strategic and social value of building on an elevated site. Ancient Greeks believed that physical elevation brought one nearer to the Gods. Mycaeneans were the first to build there, during which time it served as a palace for kings as well as a theater for the people. Over time, temples would be built as well, codifying the hill as a place of gathering and worship. Dozens of edifices were constructed and demolished as different parties vied for control of this coveted real estate until approximately 437 BCE, when Pericles ordered the construction of the penultimate temple complex that would come to be known as the Acropolis(“acro” meaning high, and “polis” meaning city). Its central, elevated placement became the spectacle beheld by all of Athens as a symbol of community and devotion. Our campus borrows from these traditions. Since its construction, the SMC Clocktower has served as an unofficial symbol of the school, its white column reaching to the heavens just as the students below it reach to achieve their dreams.
In Islamic architecture, height was a functional way of directing, informing and leading people to places that they needed to be as well as being a display of power. The Mosque of Selim II in Turkey was built to be an identical, but slightly taller version of the Hagia Sophia, the tallest domed building at that time, as an assertion of the dominance and superiority of the Muslim faith. Additionally, the minarets of the mosque are tall and slender in order to catch people's attention. The Clocktower functioned much the same way as it indicated where the center of the campus was. In this way, the minarets wera to Selim II what the Clocktower was to the the Quad and the cafeteria, places where students commonly congregate and ritually break bread together during meal times.
In concert with its size, the monumental purpose of The SMC Clocktower as a funerary object reflects another common theme found throughout the ancient world. As the inexorable conclusion to the question of our existence, death has long been a subject of fascination and obsession for human beings. It is the universal theme connecting all cultures throughout time, and humans have undoubtedly frittered away more hours trying to reconcile the multi-faceted nature of life and death than anything else in history.

A great example from Europe of a manifestation of the perennial human struggle with time and death is Stonehenge. Both the Clocktower and Stonehenge dually function as both time keeper and monument to the dead. Stonehenge serves as a primitive, but highly accurate, calendar which aligns with the position of the sun during the solstices; the clocktower is a constant reminder of the passage of time. The first bluestones, arranged in a circle around the later megalithic post and lintel constructions, are thought to have been funerary markers for a large community gravesite. Cremated bone fragments found at the site indicate that Neolithic people cremated their dead and spread the ashes within the circle. Others have hypothesized further that the circle of stones represents the infinite cycle of life, death, and renewal. Just like Stonehenge, the Clocktower is a commemoration of the ultimate sacrifice of those who came before us, as well as a celebration of the future they secured for those who would come after them.

The kouros of Ancient Greece are another example of commemorative objects that celebrate fallen heroes. The Egyptians built the massive pyramids of Ghiza to not only house the remains and possessions of the Fourth Dynasty kings that ruled Egypt, but also to be a tribute to the of those that shaped the country. The romans continued this tradition with the column of Trajan, the arch of Constantine, and many others. Even though the bodies of the students who died for this country were not buried beneath the clock tower, it is a place that people can visit to celebrate and admire sacrifice of the brave men and women who fought for our freedom from tyranny.


Dana, Marc. “Tower Is Symbol of SMC.” The Santa Monica College Corsair, vol. 46, no. 23, 2 Apr. 1975, pp. 1–1. UCR: Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research, cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CRS19750402.2.2&srpos=1&e=-------en--20-CRS-1--txt-txIN-clock tower-------1.

“Clock Tower Dedicated at Santa Monica College.” Los Angeles Times, 28 May 1955, p. 2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.