The Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section) was inaugurated on 1 October 1910, but the construction of the Kowloon Terminus in Tsim Sha Tsui did not begin until 1913. The Clock Tower which was part of the terminus complex was erected in 1915. The terminus complex was officially opened on 28 March 1916.
Built with red bricks and granite in the Edwardian Classical Revival style, the 44-metre Clock Tower is surmounted by a 7-metre tall lightning rod. The upper part of the tower is an octagonal domed belfry built of red brickwork, which contrasts with the white-painted classical features of the scroll-shaped buttresses, columns and cornices.
Following the relocation of the Kowloon-Canton Railway terminus to Hung Hom in 1975, the old terminus building in Tsim Sha Tsui was demolished in 1978, with the Clock Tower left in place to serve as an important landmark and a testament to the early history of the railways in Hong Kong.
The Former Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower was declared a monument in 1990.