The ClockTower at the University of Auckland was designed by Roy Alstan Lippincott, a Chicago-trained architect and brother-in-law of Walter Burley Griffin.

[1] In 1921, Lippincott and draughtsman Edward F. Billson won the competition for the design of the then Auckland University College Arts Building out of 44 entries.

The building has housed departments of Arts, Architecture, Law, Music and the Library as well as the University Hall, and limited student amenities in the rear wing.

In the ornamentation of the building, there is representations of native flora and fauna including flax-seed pods, ponga fronds, kākā and kea.

[4] Lippincott defended the design:“if we turn to Nature as we find her in this fascinating land…we shall produce a building and a tower —not British, surely, but one that shall belong much more intimately to us here in Auckland…and by the same token would be of much greater and more lasting interest to New Zealander and visitor alike”.

[2] Between 1985 and 1988, the main wing was renovated and strengthened, and the tower was braced with steel and concrete filigree replaced with fibreglass in many places to reduce weight.