University of Michigan Burton Memorial Tower

The Burton Memorial Tower was erected during the 1935-36 school year and was formally dedicated on December 4, 1936. Simple in general outline, it was built of Indiana limestone with long shallow buttresses extending to the top and emphasizing its height. The tenth floor, on which the bells were housed, was designed to provide opportunity for visitors to view the surrounding terrain from the terrace between the outer screens and the inner screens protecting the bells and the playing mechanism. Access to the bell chamber was designated at times on a sign board at the entrance to the Tower. The bell chamber which was forty feet high, with an observation floor above, was designed to offer the largest possible openings for the sound of the carillon. Its floor was 120 feet from the ground; the over-all height of the Tower was 212 feet. It was 41 feet 7 inches square, containing a basement and ten floors, and 19,848 square feet of floor space. Albert Kahn, of Detroit, was the architect. The final cost of the Tower was $243,664.61.