Storke Tower’s bells will cease to toll for the next three weeks as construction crews work to repair the campanile.

UCSB’s Campus Design and Facilities Dept. will make repairs to the deteriorating 40 year-old tower, which stands 175 ft. tall, starting today. As the repairs are underway, the department warns, the area around the base of the tower will be roped off to prevent the possibility of a passerby being injured by falling debris. Construction is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 23.

Restrooms in the Storke Plaza courtyard will be open during the entirety of the repair work, which will physically take place inside the top of the Tower.

Workers will perform structural repairs on the inside of the tower at the penthouse level. There will be no construction work in the plaza or courtyard but students are encouraged to walk with caution under the overhang, even near KCSB’s headquarters in the Storke Communications annex outside of the restricted walkways.

The most notable consequence of the construction, however, will be the silence that fills the air every hour. The Storke Tower bell carillon, a rare organ-like instrument composed of 61 bells of various sizes, rings on the hour every day and through the majority of the day on Sundays.