CN Tower

communications and observation tower in Toronto, Canada

The CN Tower is a telecommunications tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is 1815 ft is (553 m) tall and is the tallest free-standing structure (meaning it cannot have wires to keep it standing) in Canada, North America, and the Western Hemisphere.[3][6] It is not the tallest building as there are no floors for people to work or live in. That title goes to One World Trade Center in New York City, New York, United States, which is a bit shorter at 1,776 feet (541 m) tall. It is not the tallest structure of any kind in the Americas either, as the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, also in the United States, is taller at 2,063 feet (629 m), but that needs wires to keep it upright.

CN Tower
Tour CN
Map
Alternative namesCanadian National Tower, Canada's National Tower
Record height
Tallest in the world from 1975 to 2007[5][I]
Preceded byOstankino Tower
Surpassed byBurj Khalifa
General information
StatusComplete
TypeMixed use:
Observation, telecommunications, attraction, restaurant
Address290 Bremner Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3L9
Coordinates43°38′33.36″N 79°23′13.56″W / 43.6426000°N 79.3871000°W / 43.6426000; -79.3871000
Construction started1973[3][4]
Completed1976
OpeningJune 26, 1976
CostCA$63,000,000[4]
OwnerCanada Lands Company
Height
Antenna spire553 m
Roof447 m
Technical details
Floor countEquivalent of a 124-storey building
Lifts/elevators9<
Design and construction
ArchitectWZMH Architects:
John Andrews, Webb Zerafa, Menkes Housden
Website
www.cntower.ca
References
[3][4]

Construction of the concrete tower started on February 6, 1973. In 1975, while it was still being built, it became taller than the Ostankino Tower in Moscow. When it opened to the public on June 26, 1976, it became the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world. It held this record for more than thirty years, until the Burj Khalifa, while it was still being built, became taller on September 12, 2007 .[7] The CN Tower continued to be the world's tallest tower until the Canton Tower became taller in 2010. It is now the ninth tallest building in the world and the fifth tallest free-standing structure behind both of these, the Shanghai Tower, and the Burj Khalifa.

The "CN" in the tower's name came from the Canadian National Railway, the railway company that built the tower. In 1995, the railway sold the tower to the Canada Lands Company (CLC). Local residents wanted to keep the name CN Tower, though, so the abbreviation is now a shortened form of Canada's National Tower instead of the original Canadian National Tower. Neither of these names are commonly used, though; the tower is usually called the CN Tower.[8]

Today, the CN Tower is an important icon of Toronto and has more than two million tourists and visitors every year.[9] It has been one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World since 1995.

It has a restaurant that spins around every 1 hour & 12 minutes.[10]

change

References

change
  1. "Compare Data: Results". The Skyscraper Center.
  2. "CN Tower retains world record as tallest 'tower'". Toronto Star. September 22, 2009. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "CN Tower". SkyscraperPage.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 CN Tower at Emporis
  5. "CN Tower no longer world's tallest". Toronto Star. September 13, 2007. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013.
  6. "Canada's Wonder of the World". CN Tower. Archived from the original on July 23, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2007.
  7. CBC News Story
  8. ""Canada's Wonder of the World"". CN Tower: Plan Your Visit > Who We Are. CN Tower - Canada Lands Company. Archived from the original on 2007-07-23. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  9. "Facts at a Glance" (PDF). CN Tower. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-03-09. Retrieved 2008-01-30. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "General Information" (PDF). CN Tower. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2021-10-22.