This is not a mere clock tower, for it is the embodiment of the soul of the school that had been revered in high esteem among generations of students.
Cloaked in freshest coat of paints and dome-shape roof with beautiful colonnades, you would never believe that this grandfather was born in 1925 by Swan and Maclaren Architects (oldest architectural firm in Singapore, which also designed Raffles Hotel, Victoria Memorial Hall etc). You would also be surprised that this Renaissance-inspired tower blends so perfectly with the decor and designs of the buildings at both of his sides, and much more surpised that he has a name called “The Chinese High School Clock Tower Building” when he was gazetted as a national monument. In case you are confused, “The Chinese High School” is the former name of Hwa Chong Institution, and yes, this clock tower represents a school with strong affliliation to Chinese culture.
Well, it is indeed an awestruck to find a Chinese school represented by a marvelous Western architecture, but this marriage between West and East was not always a smooth sailing one. In the olden days before the Sixties, the curriculum and ideas were shadows of Mighty China, where within the vicinity of the Clock Tower the ideas of anti-colonialism and Marxism claimed their existence in the minds of some intellectuals-educators or students. Even beneath the layers of paints stood the bricks and steels which told grim stories of war episodes during WW2, where this 3.1metres clock tower was valued as a position for Allied Forces, and later it fell into the hands of the invaders which used it as their haven for war atrocities.
Today, this grandfather is still standing tall, overlooking the prided institution it had guarded for more than eighty years. It is certainly worth to visit, for you will be stunned by the silent stories it has to offer.
