The Skylon Tower, in
Niagara Falls, OntarioNiagara Falls is a Canadian city of 83,184 residents on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. Across the river is Niagara Falls, New York...
, is the tallest structure that overlooks both the
American FallsThe American Falls is one of three waterfalls that together are known as Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada-U.S. border. Unlike the much larger Horseshoe Falls, which lies almost completely in Canada, the American Falls is completely within the U.S...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and the larger
Horseshoe FallsThe Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, is a waterfall on the Niagara River, located mostly on the Canadian side of the border with the United States...
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
from the
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
side of the
Niagara RiverThe Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
. The Skylon Tower is Niagara's most famous landmark due to its view of both the American Falls and Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
Construction of the Skylon began in May 1964 and was officially opened October 6, 1965 by New York Governor
Nelson RockefellerNelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States, the 49th governor of New York, a philanthropist, and a businessman....
and Ontario Premier
John RobartsJohn Parmenter Robarts, PC, CC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and statesman, and Premier of Ontario.Robarts was born in Banff, Alberta, making him the only Ontario premier not to have been born in Ontario...
.
The Skylon Tower, in
Niagara Falls, OntarioNiagara Falls is a Canadian city of 83,184 residents on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. Across the river is Niagara Falls, New York...
, is the tallest structure that overlooks both the
American FallsThe American Falls is one of three waterfalls that together are known as Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada-U.S. border. Unlike the much larger Horseshoe Falls, which lies almost completely in Canada, the American Falls is completely within the U.S...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and the larger
Horseshoe FallsThe Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, is a waterfall on the Niagara River, located mostly on the Canadian side of the border with the United States...
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
from the
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
side of the
Niagara RiverThe Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
. The Skylon Tower is Niagara's most famous landmark due to its view of both the American Falls and Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
History
Construction of the Skylon began in May 1964 and was officially opened October 6, 1965 by New York Governor
Nelson RockefellerNelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States, the 49th governor of New York, a philanthropist, and a businessman....
and Ontario Premier
John RobartsJohn Parmenter Robarts, PC, CC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and statesman, and Premier of Ontario.Robarts was born in Banff, Alberta, making him the only Ontario premier not to have been born in Ontario...
. Costing $7 million at the time of its construction, the Skylon Tower was owned by a private partnership called Niagara International Centre, which was financed by the
The Hershey CompanyThe Hershey Company , known until April 2004 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town permeated by the aroma of cocoa on some days, and home to Hershey's Chocolate...
shareholdings of Charles Richard Reese, former co-owner of the
H. B. ReeseHarry Burnett Reese was the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and founder of the H.B. Reese Candy Company...
Candy Company of Hershey, PA, manufacturer of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and exclusive manufacturer of
Kit KatA Kit Kat is a confection which was first created by Rowntree's of York, England and now produced worldwide by Nestlé, which acquired Rowntree in 1988, except in the United States where it is made under licence by The Hershey Company. Each bar consists of fingers composed of three layers of...
candy bars in the United States.
Canadian Pacific HotelsCanadian Pacific Hotels was a division of Canadian Pacific Railway that operated a series of hotels across Canada. Most of these resort hotels were originally built and operated by the railway's Hotel Department, while a few were acquired from Canadian National Hotels...
was hired to operate the tower restaurants and lounges.
On October 1st, 1975 CP purchased the tower from Mr. Reese and his partners for $11 million cash. The tower's summit features a verdigris-green copper roof similar to CP's other properties, including the
Château FrontenacThe Château Frontenac grand hotel is a popular attraction in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.it was designed by architect Bruce Price, the Château Frontenac was one of a series of "château" style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway company at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th...
in
Quebec CityQuébec , is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in the province – after Montreal, about to the southwest...
and the
Banff Springs HotelThe Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is a former railway hotel constructed in Scottish Baronial style, located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. The hotel, designed by architect Bruce Price, was built between spring of 1887 and 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway, at the instigation of its...
in
BanffBanff is the largest town in Banff National Park, in Alberta's Rockies, Canada. It is also the first incorporated municipality located within a national park in Canada. At , it is the town with the highest elevation in Canada...
,
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
. CP owned and operated the tower until 1986, when it was sold for $18 million cash to two local Niagara hotel owners, John Gruyich of
Michael's Inn and George Yerich of the
Holiday Inn. In 1988 George Yerich bought out John Gruyich's ownership share of the Skylon for $13 million cash, however Milicent Gruyich continues to own the land underneath the Skylon. Mr. Yerich's Skylon land lease will expire in 2064, at which time the Skylon Tower will revert back to total ownership by the heirs of
Milicent Gruyich.
While much redevelopment has taken place in the surrounding city, the Skylon Tower complex still retains much of its look and feel from the 1970s and 80s. However the property has recently been expanded to include a 3D/4D Theatre, two
StarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 16,120 stores in 49 countries, including around 11,000 in the United States, followed by nearly 1,000 in Canada and...
franchises, other quick service franchises and a bridge connecting the complex with the newly completed Fallsview Casino. In August and September 2008 the roof of Skylon was restored to its original bright copper colour.
Features
Standing at 160 metres (520 ft) from street level and 236 metres (775 ft) from the bottom of the falls, the tower required approval from both Canadian and
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
air transport authorities, due to its proximity to the international boundary. It was the second tower to be built using the
slipformSlipform construction is a method for building large towers or bridges from concrete. The name refers to the moving form the concrete is poured into, which moves along the project as the previously poured concrete hardens behind it...
method, in which concrete is continually poured into a form moving slowly up the tower. It was built by Pigott Construction of Hamilton, Ontario. The same methods would soon be used to build the
Inco SuperstackThe Inco Superstack in Sudbury, Ontario, with a height of 380 m , is the tallest chimney in Canada and the Western hemisphere, and the second tallest freestanding chimney in the world after the GRES-2 Power Station in Kazakhstan...
in Sudbury, and the
CN TowerThe CN Tower, located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and observation tower standing tall. It surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower while still under construction in 1975, becoming the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world...
in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
.
The tower features three outside mounted "Yellow Bug" elevators. At the time of their construction they were the first such elevators in Canada. They were designed, engineered and maintained by a division of the
Otis Elevator CompanyThe Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally elevators and escalators. Founded in Yonkers, New York, USA in 1853 by Elisha Otis, the company pioneered the development of the safety elevator, invented by Otis, which used a...
from
Hamilton, OntarioHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
and can carry passengers to the top of the tower in 52 seconds. Unlike conventional elevators that are guided by side rails, the Skylon elevators operate with a guide rail on the backside only. Special equipment is employed to prevent the cables from becoming tangled in the wind or impeded by snow and ice in the winter. A curtain wall on the outside of the tower behind each elevator protects the counterweight and traveling cables from the elements.
The tower has two restaurants at its top, the lower
Revolving Dining Room and the upper Summit Suite Buffet. The
Revolving Dining Room seats 276 people and revolves once every hour by resting on a circular rail that is propelled by a motor. An observation deck sits at the tower's summit. The base of the tower features a number of gift shops, fast food restaurants and a large amusement arcade. A floor for conventions is also available, but has been seldom utilized in recent years.
The Skylon Tower is seen in
Superman IISuperman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors. For this reason the film is surrounded with controversy since original director Richard Donner had completed, by his estimation, roughly 75% of the movie in 1977 before...
. It is also used as a police lookout in the
1979The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major Events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....
film
Search and Destroy starring
Perry KingPerry Firestone King is an American television and film actor. King is best known for the role of Cody Allen on the detective series Riptide from 1983 to 1986.-Early life:...
and
George KennedyGeorge Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and as Captain Ed Hocken...
.
See also
- Googie architecture
Googie architecture is a form of novelty architecture and a subdivision of futurist architecture, influenced by car culture and the Space and Atomic Ages...
- Minolta Tower
The Konica Minolta Tower Centre, opened in 1962, is located in the Fallsview district of Niagara Falls, Ontario and was the first of the modern observation towers built near the brink of the Falls....
- Maid of the Mist
The Maid of the Mist is a boat tour of Niagara Falls. The boat starts off at a calm part of the Niagara River, near the Rainbow Bridge, and takes its passengers past the American and Bridal Veil Falls, then into the dense mist of spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe...
- Fallsview Casino
- Casino Niagara
Casino Niagara is a commercial casino located in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada. It opened in 1996, on the site of the former Maple Leaf Village amusement park. It was originally an interim casino while the new Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort was constructed. Due to its prime location beside...
- Clifton Hill
Clifton Hill is one of the major tourist promenades in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The street, close in proximity to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, leads from River Road on the Niagara Parkway to intersect with Victoria Avenue. The street contains a number of gift shops, wax museums, haunted...
- Maple Leaf Village
Maple Leaf Village is a former amusement park and entertainment complex in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Opened in May 1979 it was operated by Conklin Shows...
- Spanish Aerocar
External links