Editing Sather Tower (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Berkeley campanile study.jpg|thumb|upright=1|left|Building apartments into the new tower was considered. (Preliminary drawing, 1903, John Galen Howard.)]]

At {{convert|307|ft|m}} tall, it is the second-tallest free-standing bell-and-[[List of tallest clock towers|clock-tower in the world]]. It includes seven principal floors and an eighth-floor observation deck {{convert|200|ft|m}} above the base.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Campanile (Sather Tower)|url=https://visit.berkeley.edu/the-campanile/|work=UC Berkeley Visitor Services|access-date=2021-07-22}}</ref>

Designed by [[John Galen Howard]], founder of the [[UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design|Department of Architecture at the university]], Sather Tower was completed in 1915 and opened to the public in 1916.<ref>{{cite web|title=Campanile historical timeline - The Campanile|url=https://campanile.berkeley.edu/campanile-historical-timeline|access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref> It marked a secondary axis in Howard's original [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] campus plan and has been a major point of orientation in almost every campus master plan since.

Sather Tower houses a full concert [[carillon]], enlarged from the original 12-bell chime installed in October 1917 to 48 bells in 1979 and the current 61 bells in 1983.

During the Fall and Spring semesters, the carillon is performed for ten minutes at 7:50&nbsp;a.m., noon, and 6:00&nbsp;p.m. during weekdays, from 12:00–12:15&nbsp;p.m. and 6:00–6:10&nbsp;p.m. on Saturdays, and from 2:00–2:45&nbsp;p.m. on Sundays and intermittently at other times of the year.<ref name="schedule">{{cite web|title=Sather Tower Carillon|url=https://music.berkeley.edu/sather-tower-carillon/|website=Department of Music|access-date=22 July 2021|date=2021-07-22}}</ref> The bells also toll the hour 7 days a week between the hours of 8&nbsp;a.m. and 10&nbsp;p.m. At noon on the last day of instruction each semester, "[[They're Hanging Danny Deever in the Morning]]" is played. (The song employs only the original set of bells installed in 1917.) Following that, the carillon is silent until the end of [[final examination|finals]].

A gift by Evelyn and Jerry Chambers in 1983 endowed the position of University Carillonist as well as practice rooms, practice keyboards, a campanology library, and international Carillon Festivals every five years from the anniversary of the Class of 1928. Private and group lessons are offered in carillon through the Department of Music, subject to auditions and with Music majors receiving priority. Students work on one of Sather Tower's two practice keyboards until they are ready to perform on the carillon itself.

[[File:Campanile-bells.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|The bell chamber/{{zwsp}}{{shy|ob|ser|va|tion}} deck, showing a portion of the carillon]]
[[File:Venice02.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|[[St Mark's Campanile]], Venice]]

An elevator takes visitors 200 feet (61 m) up to an observation deck with sweeping views of the campus, the surrounding hills, [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], and the [[Golden Gate]]. Admission is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty, four dollars for seniors, [[Cal Alumni Association]] members, and persons age 17 and under, and five dollars for everyone else.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://visit.berkeley.edu/the-campanile/ |title=The Campanile (Sather Tower)|website=UC Berkeley Visitor Services|date=2021-07-22}}</ref>

The trumpets of the California Marching Band every year play Cal spirit songs during Big Game week from the top of the tower. Known as the Campanile Concert, the music can be heard throughout the campus and Berkeley, and in some cases, all the way to Oakland.

The surrounding promenade features a grid of pollarded London Plane trees, frequently enjoyed for the sport of [[slacklining]].

On April 16, 1959, a 67-year-old retired attorney jumped to his death, prompting a daily patrol to guard the platform. On January 4, 1961, a 19-year-old undergraduate student committed suicide. Following this second suicide, the university installed glass panes to enclose the viewing platform. These panes were removed in 1979 due to complaints that the panes were muffling the sound of the expanded carillon. In 1981, metal bars were installed. Nevertheless, in 1982, an undergraduate student managed to scale the newly installed bars but was talked down from the ledge.

In 2017, a pair of [[peregrine falcon]]s began nesting on top of Sather Tower. They were followed by webcams and the [[Cal Falcons]] social media project.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bercovici |first1=Jeff |title=The avian soap opera unfolding atop this Berkeley bell tower has humans riveted |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-05/the-avian-soap-opera-unfolding-atop-this-berkeley-clock-tower-has-humans-riveted |access-date=8 April 2022 |publisher=La Times |date=5 April 2022}}</ref>