Skylon Tower
|
Skylon Tower
|
|||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| Basic data | |||||||||||||||||
| Place: | Niagara Falls | ||||||||||||||||
| Province: | Ontario | ||||||||||||||||
| Country: | Canada | ||||||||||||||||
| Altitude : | 192 m | ||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates: 43 ° 5 ′ 6.5 ″ N , 79 ° 4 ′ 46.9 ″ W. | |||||||||||||||||
| Use: | Revolving restaurant , observation tower | ||||||||||||||||
| Accessibility: | Observation tower open to the public | ||||||||||||||||
| Tower data | |||||||||||||||||
| Construction time : | 1964-1965 | ||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Operating time: | since 1965 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last modification: | Summer 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total height : | 160 m | ||||||||||||||||
| Viewing platforms: | 115 m , 132 m | ||||||||||||||||
| Total mass : | 21,773 t | ||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Position map | |||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
The Skylon Tower is a 160 meter high reinforced concrete observation tower built between 1964 and 1965 in Niagara Falls , Canada . The tower is not far from the Konica Minolta Tower , which was built three years earlier .
history
Construction of the Skylon Tower began in May 1964 with the foundation work . In order to transport the building material, a 35 ton crane was installed, which was removed from the top of the tower by a transport helicopter after construction was completed. The concrete casting began on September 23, 1964. The tower grew by 3.65 meters every day. On October 28, 1964, the official name Skylon Tower was presented to the public. The company's executive Edward Bull Jr. described the meaning of the name as a modification of skyscraper in the space age. On May 21, 1965, a fire broke out during construction, causing property damage of around $ 5,000.
It opened on October 6, 1965 in the presence of then Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and Ontario's Prime Minister John Robarts . The construction costs of 7 million Canadian dollars were borne by the private consortium Niagara International Center , which was financed by the chocolate manufacturer Hershey Company . Co-partners were the Candy Company from Hershey, Pennsylvania owned by HB Reese. The Canadian Pacific Hotels company was hired to run the tower's lounge and restaurant operations.
On October 1, 1975, the tower was transferred to Reeses Candy Company and its partners for $ 11 million . At that time they also operated the Château Frontenac and the Banff Springs Hotel . The business was run by the Candy Company until 1986 and sold to two local hotel owners, John Gruyich and George Yerich, for $ 18 million. In 1988 Yerich paid out his partner Gruyich.
While the city center of Niagara Falls and the surrounding area has undergone major changes since the 1970s, the tower and its complex at the tower base remained relatively unchanged. Over time, however, the offer was expanded to include a 3D / 4D cinema and a Starbucks franchisee. From August to September 2008 the roof of the tower cage was restored and the original bronze color was restored.
description
The observation tower has two restaurants for up to 270 people and a boutique. The tower has a total height of 160 meters. The tower stands on a base that consists of a multi-storey building with a hexagonal floor plan. The foundation is up to 15 m underground and weighs 6000 tons. The Skylon Tower stands on a small hill (229 m above Niagara Falls) in downtown Niagara Falls on the western edge of Queen Victoria Park around 200 meters from the bank of the Niagara River at the height of Niagara Falls .
From the observation deck of the tower you have an overview of the entire Niagara Falls and the Niagara River. With good visibility, the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie can be seen. The visibility is given as up to 130 km on a clear day. The viewing platform can be reached in 52 seconds using three yellow external elevators. The stairwell has 662 steps to the top. The upper dome of the tower cage has a diameter of 32.9 m and weighs 200 tons. The tower shaft tapers from 22.1 m to 10.2 m in diameter to below the dome. Similar to the CN Tower , the Skylon Tower has three cantilevered rib-like feet. The reinforced concrete shaft was continuously poured in several layers around the clock in 38 days and grew by 25 millimeters every 10 minutes.
Skylon Tower illuminated at night
Tower cage
Observation deck with a view of Niagara Falls
Entrance area
Skylon Tower as seen from the Hilton Hotel
.jpg)
.jpg)
literature
- Heinle, Erwin: Towers of all times - of all cultures , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (Germany), ISBN 3-421-02931-8 , 1997; Pp. 244-245.
- Margolius, Ivan: Architects + Engineers = Structures , Academy Editions, New York (USA), ISBN 0-471-49825-4 ; P. 49.
Web links
- www.skylon.com
- Skylon Tower. In: Structurae
- Toronto Guardian: Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls Turns Fifty - Newspaper article from November 27, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ History of the Skylon Tower (English), last accessed on July 25, 2018