[1][2] The clock tower was constructed to commemorate James W. W. Birch, the first British Resident of the state of Perak and unveiled on 8 December 1909 at a cost of $25,000.

[3] The clock tower is located in a square and originally held a bronze, portrait bust of J. W. W. Birch in a niche, since removed.

Four panels illustrate the growth of civilization designed by Messrs. Doulton and Co. of London.

Above the clock are four statues at each corner representing the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

[1][4] There are four panels each one of the depicting the exponents of the different stages of civilization:[5] Panel A (North) The Stone Age: The Iron Age: The Early Eastern Peoples : Panel B (West) The Eastern Mediterranean: The Far East: Greece and Rome: Panel C (South) The Byzantine Empire: Islam: The Age of Chivalry: The Age of Faith: Gothic Art: The Renaissance: The Reformation: The Elizabethan Age: Panel D (East) Modern Science, Art and Social Services: Isaac Newton, William Harvey, James Watt, An unnamed Embroiderer, Beethoven, Robert Stephenson, Louis Daguerre, Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin, Thomas Alva Edison, Joseph Lister.