Kirkbride Buildings Blog

February 23rd, 2012

What Will the Worcester Clocktower Look Like?

Worcester Clock Tower
An article on the Boston Globe website includes an artist’s rendering of the Worcester State Hospital clock tower replica: Clock Tower: Time Isn’t Up in Worcester. Even though I’m very disappointed in the clock tower replica compromise and don’t think it could ever be a fitting stand-in for the entire building, I have to say it doesn’t look quite as silly as I had feared. What do you think?

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Discussion

  1. WSH February 23, 2012, 10:46 am

    I’m with you, not happy overall. Knowing DCAM it could be a lot worse. I guess it kind of looks ok.

    I just hope either way it actually happens. Remember the memorial fountain that was supposed to be built at Northampton??

  2. ROb February 23, 2012, 9:03 pm

    Sooo, why do they HAVE to tear it down again?

  3. Audrey March 9, 2012, 12:31 am

    I am disappointed as well. I wish they would build a replica of the whole administration building. I wonder how much this is going to cost compared to actually renovating it…

  4. Marc April 19, 2012, 11:01 pm

    I agree with both Rob and Audrey. On top of that, I think it’s a waste of money to build a replica of something you just tore down. If they HAVE to do this, could they not demolish the main body of the Administration building (a crime in itself), hollow the tower and build a skeleton to hold it up? I just can’t see the point in spending a fortune to canonize a structure that everyone seems to agree is important when the original structure is STILL STANDING. Building a replica is like spitting on everything it represents. A new structure will mean nothing; it will have none of the allure that the clock tower so proudly boasts. But everyone can pat themselves on the back and say “We did it!”

    I would myself prefer that if it has to come down, that the money that would have gone to building the new tower go to save another endangered building in Worcester. The Oddfellows Home for instance.

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