The crumbling New Market clock tower is finally set to be restored with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) granting permission to a citizens’ initiative to do the job.
The clock tower was commissioned together with New Market in 1874. Built in Victorian Gothic style, the tower was an architectural statement in Calcutta’s skyline, said a conservation architect. New Market was built primarily to cater to the needs of the British residents of the city, and its symbolism was also vital.
The Kolkata Restorers, who have lit up several grand old edifices in the city, originally wanted to restore only the clock atop the tower. A visit to check the clock’s condition revealed the tower’s decrepit state. The clock could no way have been restored without caring for the tower.
The director-general (chief engineer) of the environment and heritage department of the civic body granted the permission on Monday in a letter to Mudar Patherya, a member of The Kolkata Restorers.
“There are instances of structural stress everywhere. The floorboards have collapsed, there are cracks in the walls, vegetation has grown on them, the wooden spire has disintegrated and its ventilators have been blown away by the winds. If the clock has to be restored, its associated environment too needs to be restored,” said Anjan Mitra, a conservation architect who will be part of the restoration.
“Years of neglect and water seeping in damaged a lot of things. The restoration will be a cumbersome job. We target to finish the work in six months from the day we start,” said Mitra.
Preparations ahead of the job are likely to take a lot of time, as there are shops and constructions around the base of the tower.
The KMC’s permission letter mentions that the restoration must be done using original materials.
“The materials that were used during the construction will have to be used for the restoration. The KMC will only monitor the work. A conservation architect empanelled with the KMC is doing the job,” said a civic official.
New Market and the clock tower are listed as Grade I Heritage Structures in the KMC’s records.
“A Calcutta-based company named Techno Electric and Engineering Company Limited has promised to fund the tower restoration project,” said Patherya.
The clocks on the New Market tower are different from other clocks atop large buildings in the city, said Satyajit Dutta of TR Clock Company, which will restore the four clocks.
“These clocks used to chime as well as strike. They used to chime every 15 minutes,” said Dutta.
At the 15th minute of an hour, the clock used to chime four times in a rhythm; at the 30th minute, it chimed eight times in a different rhythm. With the passing of every 15 minutes, the number of chimes went up by four, said Dutta.
“At the start of a new hour, the clock used to strike as many times as the hour,” he said. “Many of the parts have been damaged, but it is possible to make the clock chime and strike again,” said Dutta.
The permission letter mentions that once the restoration is completed, the KMC’s market or market engineering department will take responsibility for the clock and the clock tower’s maintenance. The conservation architect will inform the KMC about the maintenance guidelines.
The Telegraph had reported in March about the dilapidated condition of New Market, now formally called Sir Stuart Hogg Market, and its clock tower.
In the original New Market restoration plan, the KMC was supposed to restore the clock tower, too. Later, it decided to segregate the clock tower restoration and entrust its restoration to a group with a proven ability to carry out the job.
KMC officials said the civic body will restore the market. The state government had allocated money to the KMC for the restoration of the market in January 2024, but the restoration has yet to take off.
