Torre Monumental, Clock tower in Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Torre Monumental is a 59-metre Palladian clock tower in Retiro, built of red brick and Portland stone on a platform with four stairways. A frieze of triglyphs and metopes with suns and British Empire emblems runs above the west entrance and the other faces. The clock sits at 45 metres, and an octagonal copper cupola carries a weather vane shaped like a three-masted Elizabethan frigate.

In 1909 Argentina's Congress accepted Law 6368, the offer of British residents to raise a monument for the May Revolution centennial. The 1910 competition was won by architect Ambrose Macdonald Poynter, and Hopkins y Gardom built it with English materials. The cornerstone was laid on 26 November 1910 after Edward VII's death cancelled the British delegation, and the tower opened on 24 May 1916, delayed by World War I and a gas company on the site until 1912.

The frieze above the west entrance and on the other faces alternates triglyphs with metopes carved with suns and emblems of the British Empire: the thistle of Scotland, the Tudor rose of England, the red dragon of Wales and the shamrock of Ireland. Over the door are the shields of Argentina and the United Kingdom and the inscription "Al gran pueblo argentino, los residentes británicos, salud. 25 de mayo 1810-1910".

The observation deck is open from Tuesday to Sunday, and students and children under 12 enter without charge. Allow time to climb the stairs and enjoy the views from above.

The carillon that marks the quarter hours imitates the chords of Big Ben at Westminster Abbey and weighs about three tons. The clock's four dials, each 4.4 metres across, were originally made of English opaline and were replaced after damage suffered during the Falklands War.