Burton Memorial Tower - 53 Bells Overhead

A stop on University of Michigan Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Look up. This limestone-faced clock tower is Burton Memorial Tower, and when it was dedicated in 1936 it became the tallest building in Ann Arbor, a title it held until 1967. It honors Marion LeRoy Burton, the university's president from 1920 to 1925. Albert Kahn designed it, drawing on an earlier scheme by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, and you can see the clean Art Deco lines as it rises.

About 120 feet up hangs a carillon of 53 bells weighing 43 tons in all, donated by alumnus Charles Baird and cast in England. The biggest bell alone weighs 12 tons and strikes every hour, and the tower chimes the Westminster Quarters every quarter hour. A carillonneur plays the bells from a keyboard of wooden batons and foot pedals, so a recital is a real physical workout.

The floors below hold classrooms and offices for the music school. If the bells start while you're here, stay and listen; the School of Music lists recital times on its website.

Getting here: Walk back south along Ingalls Mall; the tall clock tower is just ahead.

Did you know?: Michigan's Ann Arbor campus has two grand carillons, a rarity for any one place: this one and the bells in Lurie Tower on North Campus.

Photo op: Step back toward Hill Auditorium and shoot upward to catch the whole tower and its clock faces against the sky.

More on Wikipedia: Burton Memorial Tower · Marion LeRoy Burton · Eliel Saarinen · Albert Kahn

Burton Memorial Tower - 53 Bells Overhead

Stops on this tour