Modern clock tower restores time to Lawrence school
It works! It works!
No need for a DeLorean time machine or a lightning strike to the clock tower like the one in “Back to the Future.” After 25 years, the right time has been restored to Lawrence.
A new cupola and clock tower powered by LED and smartphone technology were hoisted atop a Lawrence school building — replacing a relic of the New Deal that had stood still for a quarter-century while administrators struggled with repairing its antiquated gears and weights.
The Lawrence school district has invested $500,000 to replace the structures for its Broadway campus, which houses its middle school and space for district offices and younger students. The building opened as a high school in 1936 — an $825,000 project that used funds from the Public Works Administration, according to newspaper archives. A 600-pound bronze bell that was originally housed in the clock tower was retired Monday and placed on the campus’ lawn, to be surrounded by plants.
“The building itself is such an iconic landmark,” said Craig Cammarata, director of facilities in the Lawrence district. “We want to keep the look of the building intact for many, many years to come.”
For decades, the clock tower and its cupola had been in decline. The dome of the cupola had a large dent. The tower’s white woodwork was rotting. The bell was caked with a green patina, called verdigris, that forms on metals after years of exposure.
Elderhorst Bells, a Pennsylvania company that originated in Zoeterwoude, Netherlands, in 1893, built the new black-and-white clock that will feature LED backlighting. The colors can be changed — or mixed — using a mobile device or app.
The new tower clock is hoisted to the new cupola of Lawrence Middle School, Broadway campus, on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, in Lawrence. Credit: Howard Schnapp
An electric motor will power the new clock, which was made of lightweight and corrosion-resistant materials that will serve as a barrier to the elements. The campus, on Long Island’s South Shore, is close to Bannister Bay and the Reynolds Channel.
The cupola uses lightweight aluminum and PVC materials that resemble wood but won’t rot.
Superintendent Ann Pedersen said the renovation is among several planned for the historic building and aligns with broader plans for the district.
“It’s just one of those repairs that wasn’t done,” Pedersen said of the deteriorating infrastructure. “It’s such a big visual sign of the improvements that are occurring,” she said, referring to plans to improve academic achievement in the district.
The building was among a number of projects built on Long Island in the style of Colonial Revivalism during the Great Depression using Public Works Administration funds, local historians said.
“The architectural style is a silent memory of that time period,” said Natalie Naylor, president of the Nassau County Historical Society.
Officials in the Lawrence district had weighed fixes to the existing structure over the years, but the damage was extensive. Repairs to the tower, about 50 feet above the ground, were difficult because of the outdated machinery.
It is common for tower clocks from older eras to fall into ruin, and for school districts to discard them, said Jay Scales, business manager for Elderhorst Bells Inc., based in Palm, Pennsylvania.
“There’s a lot of places that just drop the clock off” and don’t embark on a renovation, Scales said, adding that was a “shame.”
Scales explained that clocks “had much greater roles” in past eras, when “there were not as many clocks in houses, not as many wrist watches and that kind of thing.”
“Now, they serve kind of a different purpose, more of a decorative purpose rather than a timekeeping purpose. But they’re still an identifier for that particular building, or in that particular town.”
Naylor said that it was “important” to restore the infrastructure of the Great Depression and noted the common stereotype that the projects were “useless leaf raking.
“This was a part of obviously combating the Depression, to put people to work and doing useful programs,” Naylor said. “They’re permanent structures that are part of our communities.”
Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.
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