Altgeld Hall Tower, Illinois, United States
5.0 (24 reviews) Spent Ranking #10 in Champaign-Urbana Architectural Buildings
Before you leave UIUC, visit the Bell Tower
One of the funnest experiences of my college career has been a visit to the Altgeld Bell Tower. Go with friends and you will not regret it. The views are breath-taking. They even allowed us to ring the bells!
Address
1409 W Green St University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, Urbana, Champaign-Urbana, IL 61801-2907
Mobile
Website
http://illinois.edu/chimes/
Current local date and time now
Sunday, May 12, 2024, 13:27
User Ratings
5.0 based on (24 reviews)
Excellent
84%
Good
8%
Satisfactory
8%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Reviews
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5timfl2016 5:00 PM Dec 9, 2019
A Wonderful Building
It used to be possible for people visit the belfry on Fridays between 12:30 and 1 pm. No longer. Still worth a visit, for the sounds and for the math/statistics library, which has a beautiful interior.
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5Taylor B 5:00 PM Aug 18, 2019
Altgeld Hall's Bell Tower is Illinois' Big Ben
When I was a student at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1958-1962, I always counted on Altgeld Hall's Bell Tower to provide the correct time. Installed in 1920, the University Chime, with 15 bells weighing a total of 7 1/2 tons, marks the hours, half hours and quarter hours. In those days, it also played a 10-minute concert every school day from 12:50 to 1 p.m. Today, it doesn't play concerts, pending repairs and maintenance to the bell tower, but the automated chimes still play every 15 minutes. Altgeld Hall, built in 1896-97, was always my last stop on my four-class schedule every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during my freshman and sophomore years. Located at 1409 West Green Street, near the statue of Alma Mater, it was originally the University Library and was later used by the College of Law and Department of Mathematics. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The building was constructed in the Richardson Romanesque style and resembles a castle. The exterior features the only gargoyle on campus while the interior features four murals painted around the domed ceiling of what is now the Mathematics Library. Altgeld Hall is a National Historic Landmark, a reminder that they don't build them like that anymore.
