Atkinson Clock Tower: The Oldest Standing Structure in Kota Kinabalu
The Atkinson Clock Tower is Kota Kinabalu's oldest standing structure. Its 1905 story, war damage, the fight to save it and tips for your visit.
Viannie Undikai
10/20/20264 min read
The Atkinson Clock Tower on its bluff above the city centre. Photo: Ivo Kruusamägi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A wooden clock tower, built in memory of a young man who died at 28, still keeps time on a hill above Kota Kinabalu. It has outlived a war, a mall plan and more than a century of tropical rain.
In short: The Atkinson Clock Tower is the oldest standing structure in Kota Kinabalu. Completed in 1905 on Jalan Bukit Bendera (Signal Hill Road), it honours Francis George Atkinson, Jesselton's first District Officer. It is a free outdoor monument you can visit any time, and it is a gazetted heritage site.
Who was Atkinson?
Francis George Atkinson was the first District Officer of Jesselton, the town we now call Kota Kinabalu. In December 1902 he died of malaria, then known as "Borneo fever", at only 28.
His mother, Mrs Mary Edith Atkinson, presented a two faced clock to Jesselton in his memory. A tower was then decided on to hold it. She gave the clock; the tower itself was paid for by Atkinson's friends, probably with help from shipwrights of visiting naval ships. Its internal carpentry still shows the hallmarks of a ship's carpenter.
How the Atkinson Clock Tower was built
The clock began working on 19 April 1905, while the tower was still under construction, and its chimes were heard across town. The structure was commissioned the next day, 20 April 1905.
Clock maker: William Potts & Sons of Leeds, England
Wood: merbau (mirabau) hardwood
Height: 50 ft (15.24 m), on a base of 6 ft 3 in square, with a weather vane on top
For decades it was a landmark for ships. Visible from the sea and lit at night, it guided vessels calling at the wharf into the 1950s. Land reclamation and new buildings now block that sea view.
The Memorial Clock Tower in early Jesselton. Photo: Philippe Funk (1876 to 1941), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
War, radio chimes and the clockmakers
During the Second World War, Japanese machine gun fire damaged the dial and the clock mechanism. Jesselton was largely destroyed by Allied bombing, yet the tower is often described as one of the few pre war structures that survived. A local firm, Yick Ming Watch Dealers, repaired the clock and stayed on as its caretakers, the work passing from father to son.
In the 1950s Radio Sabah was nearby, and old timers remember hearing the tower's chimes over the radio before the BBC World news.
Restorations through the years
1959: a major renovation for Jesselton's Diamond Jubilee replaced rotten members and roof timbers, finished on 7 November 1959.
1961: the clock faces were replaced with translucent Perspex, black figures on white, lit from inside.
2012: repaired again in May.
2016: a malfunction was fixed by the Sabah Museum.
The fight to save the tower
The site was first gazetted in 1983. On 23 February 2018 it was among 24 sites gazetted under the State Heritage Enactment 2017.
That protection was hard won. In 2011 a plan to build a mall next to the tower drew protests from heritage groups and NGOs and was shelved. It returned in 2017 with a proposal to relocate the tower. The DBKK mayor said the council had no power to move it, and the Malaysian Institute of Architects opposed the idea. The tower stayed where it belongs.
Visiting the Atkinson Clock Tower
Cost and hours: free, outdoor, viewable any time.
Getting there: walk up from the Padang Merdeka and Jalan Padang area, or drive along Jalan Bukit Bendera toward the Signal Hill Observatory.
Photo tips: late afternoon light on the white wood is lovely, and the tower is lit at night. For a view over the tower, city and sea, go up to the Signal Hill observatory.
Looking down on the clock tower from Bukit Bendera. Photo: Ashkho, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Frequently asked questions
How old is the Atkinson Clock Tower?
It was completed in 1905, with the clock starting on 19 April and the tower commissioned on 20 April. That makes it the oldest standing structure in Kota Kinabalu, and it is now a gazetted heritage site.
Who is the clock tower named after?
Francis George Atkinson, the first District Officer of Jesselton, who died of malaria in December 1902 aged 28. His mother gave the clock in his memory, and his friends paid for the tower.
Where can I get the best photo?
Try late afternoon light on the white wood, or come after dark when the tower is lit. For a view over the tower and city, go up toward the Signal Hill observatory.
Stay nearby
After a morning in old Jesselton, it is nice to come home to a quieter evening. KK Sunset Villa, Your Private Villa with Full Sunset Views, sits in the Shangrila Heights area of Kota Kinabalu, a comfortable base for families and groups exploring the city. Read the story behind KK Sunset Villa, or check dates at KK Sunset Villa.
Written by Viannie Undikai. 20 October 2026.
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