Belmont Bell Tower | |
---|---|
Former names | Water Tower, Singing Tower, Alumnae Chimes, Belmont Tower |
General information | |
Type | Renovated Tower |
Location | Nashville, Tennessee, USA |
Coordinates | 36°08′00″N86°47′42″W / 36.133389°N 86.795097°W |
Construction started | 1850 |
Completed | 1853 |
Owner | Belmont University |
Height | 105 ft |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Brick, Wood Frame |
Floor count | 5 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Adolphus Heiman |
References | |
Belmont | |
NRHP reference No. | 71000816 [1] |
Added to NRHP | May 6, 1971 |
The Belmont Tower and Carillon is an iconic structure on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tower is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Belmont Mansion registration [2] and is prominently featured in the university logo. The current Belmont University Tower and Carillon chimes each hour from 9:00am–8:00pm.
The Belmont University Tower and Carillon is located approximately 528 ft (161 m) south of the Belmont Mansion on Belmont University's campus in Nashville, Tennessee.
Located on the former summer estate of Colonel Joseph and Adelicia Acklen, the tower was constructed circa 1850 to be used as a water tower for the Belmont Mansion and gardens. In 1864 during the Battle of Nashville union troops led by General T.J. Wood used the structure as a signal tower.
When a carillon of twenty-three bronze bells was installed at Ward-Belmont College in 1928, it became the first carillon in Tennessee and one of the first twenty-five carillons in North America. The original carillon bells were exchanged for an electronic carillon in 1951, shortly after the property became Belmont College.
In 1986, a second carillon of twenty-three bells was installed. A gift of nineteen more bells was given to Belmont University by The Massey Foundation and other beneficiaries and installed in November 2002 by Meeks, Watson and Company. The addition of a low D-sharp bell completed the carillon in 2005. The largest bell weighs 1,188 pounds, and the smallest bell weighs twenty-two pounds. The total combined weight of the forty-three bells amounts to 7,477 pounds. The bells were cast by royal bellfounders Petit and Fritsen, in Aarle-Rixtel, Netherlands and installed by the I.T. Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Tower currently houses a total of forty-three bells and is one of only six carillons in the state of Tennessee. The present carillon is played by Dr. Richard Shadinger, Professor of Music in Belmont University's School of Music.
Design of the tower is credited to famed architect Adolphus Heiman with lesser mention of William Strickland. The tower design is based on the Lighthouse at Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and it is the largest surviving antebellum water tower constructed for private use in the United States. The brick water tower stands 105 feet tall and was originally surrounded by a moat and bridge at the entrance.
Inside the five-story tower lies an original cast-iron staircase leading to the second floor of the tower. The staircase is an exact replica of the staircase in the Green-Meldrim House in Savannah, Georgia. The first floor of the tower was renovated into a prayer chapel in 1974, which is currently open to visitors day and night. The second floor houses the music library. The third floor holds a practice carillon. The fourth floor houses the keyboard control mechanism for the carillon bells. [3]
The bronze bells are located behind screens on the fifth level of the tower. [4]
Sather Tower is a bell tower with clocks on its four faces on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It is more commonly known as The Campanile for its resemblance to the Campanile di San Marco in Venice. It is a recognizable symbol of the university.
Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College.
The Yale Memorial Carillon is a carillon of 54 bells in Harkness Tower at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Ward–Belmont College was a women's college located in Nashville, Tennessee. It formed from the merger of the Ward Seminary for Young Ladies andBelmont College for Young Women in 1913. The college was located on the grounds of the Belmont Mansion, the antebellum estate of Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham. It was the first junior college in the South to receive full accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The college was sold for financial reasons in 1951. Its grounds were used to create Belmont College.
The Burton Memorial Tower is a clock tower located on Central Campus at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at 230 North Ingalls Street. Housing a grand carillon, the tower was built in 1936 as a memorial for University President Marion Leroy Burton. This carillon is the world's fourth-heaviest, containing 53 bells and weighing a total of 43 tons.
Royal Eijsbouts is a bell foundry located in Asten, Netherlands.
The Munttoren or Munt is a tower in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It stands on the busy Muntplein square, where the Amstel river and the Singel canal meet, near the flower market and the eastern end of the Kalverstraat shopping street.
Royal Bellfounders Petit & Fritsen, located in Aarle-Rixtel, the Netherlands, is a former foundry, one of the oldest family-owned businesses in the Netherlands, with the foundry dating back to 1660.
Joseph Hayes Acklen was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1878 to 1881.
The Netherlands Centennial Carillon is a 62-bell carillon located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Its tower is located at the intersection of Government Street and Belleville Street, in front of the Royal British Columbia Museum and across the street from the Parliament Building.
Belmont Mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, and originally known as Belle Monte, Belle Mont or Belmont, is a historic mansion located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was built by Joseph and Adelicia Acklen to serve as the center of their 180-acre summer estate in what was then country outside the city, and featured elaborate gardens and a zoo. They lived much of the rest of the year on her plantations in Louisiana.
Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham was an American planter and slave trader. She became the wealthiest woman in Tennessee and a plantation owner in her own right after the 1846 death of her first husband, Isaac Franklin. As a successful slave trader, he had used his wealth to purchase numerous plantations, lands, and slaves in Tennessee and Louisiana.
The Greene County Courthouse, located in Jefferson, Iowa, United States, was built in 1918. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. In 2011, it was included as a contributing property in the Jefferson Square Commercial Historic District. The courthouse is the third structure to house court functions and county administration. The courthouse features the Mahany Tower, a 120 feet bell tower.
The Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon is a carillon located in Washington Park in Springfield, Illinois. The brutalist tower stands 132 feet and is constructed from concrete, brick and steel. It was dedicated in 1962 and designed by Bill Turley. Each year the carillon hosts the International Carillon Festival which features world-renowned carillonneurs.
The Nieuwe Toren is located at the Oudestraat in the city of Kampen, in the Netherlands. This Carillon tower was built in the period between 1649-1664 partly according to a design by Philips Vingboons. The lower brick-built part was erected by the Edam mill maker Dirck Janzn. The design for the lantern was made by Philips Vingboons, which may have originally been intended for the Town hall now the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. The construction work went through many setbacks, the work even came to a standstill during the period 1655-1660. It was declared a Dutch National Monument (Rijksmonument) in 1972.
The 'Drommedaris' is the southern gateway of the Dutch city Enkhuizen. It is the best known building in Enkhuizen.
Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen was an American lawyer, planter, and veteran of the Texas Revolution, best known as the second husband of Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham, and the father of U. S. Representative Joseph H. Acklen.
Campanology is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are cast, tuned, and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art. Articles related to campanology include: