The Tower Hotel, opened in 1962, is located in the Fallsview district of

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

and was the first of the contemporary observation towers built near the brink of the Falls. It features an indoor observation deck, restaurant, wedding chapel, and hotel. The tower is tall above street level and above the falls. The tower assumed its present name in 2010 as a result of its most recent renovation; as

Minolta was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated autofocu ...

was the longest-tenured sponsor of the building, tourists and locals may still call it the Minolta Tower.

History

Previous towers

For more than 100 years, there had been various smaller towers built throughout the area with most of them being wooden structures. Two notable towers were the wood construction tower located at the top of Drummond Hill on Lundy's Lane behind the historic Drummond Inn, and Street's Pagoda on Cedar Island. * ''Drummond Hill Tower'' was built for visitors to have an aerial view of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

Battle of Lundy's Lane The Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara, was a battle fought on 25 July 1814, during the War of 1812, between an invading American army and a British and Canadian army near present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was one o ...

battle field and the Drummond Hill Cemetery where many British and American soldiers killed during the battle are buried. * ''Street's Pagoda'' was named for an early area settler, Thomas "T.C." Street, who had ownership of Cedar Island, located between the

Horseshoe Falls Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three waterfalls that collectively form Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border. Approximately 90% of the Niagara River, after diversions for hydropower generation, flows ...

and

Dufferin Islands Dufferin Islands are a group of scenic man-made islands located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, approximately 1/2 mile south of the Horseshoe Falls. The islands are known for their quiet seclusion and nature trails. History Early history While Niag ...

. This tower was dismantled in 1887, and Cedar Island was eventually made part of the mainland with the construction of the

Rankine Generating Station The Rankine Generating Station is a former hydro-electric generating station along the Canadian side of the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario, slightly downstream from the older Toronto Power Generating Station. It was built in for the Can ...

upriver by 1910.

Construction

Construction began in 1961, and was reportedly the first using of the

slipform Slip forming, continuous poured, continuously formed, or slipform construction is a construction method in which concrete is poured into a continuously moving form.Nawy, ''Concrete Construction Engineering Handbook,'' 2008, p. 10—33. Slip formi ...

construction method in North America. One minor fire occurred on the roof on September 2, 1961, due to spillage of hot-mix concrete igniting a tarp and causing several propane tanks to explode. Damage was minimal, estimated at "a few thousand dollars", and nine people suffered minor injuries battling the blaze. The tower opened for business on July 1, 1962.

Changing skyline

When the tower and surrounding area was first designed prior to groundbreaking on March 15, 1961, it was to be the centrepiece of a proposed hotel/convention centre. Due to finances, the accompanying hotel buildings were not built, and it would be over forty years before hotels began to rise adjacent to the tower. During the 1970s and 1980s, the surrounding land was occupied by an

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

to the north, and the

Waltzing Waters The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

attraction to the south. The Waltzing Waters site was moved across the street in 1995 to allow for site planning of the current

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hote ...

hotel. The Waltzing Waters, a light and water show synchronized to music, disappeared altogether by 2000. The aquarium was dismantled in 1996 to allow for further site expansion. The 2000s boom in large hotel construction on Fallsview Boulevard, such as the Fallsview Hotel, Hilton Hotel, and Embassy Suites by Hilton, as well as the nearby Oakes Hotel and Radisson, has diminished the Tower Hotel's prominence as a landmark. All of these hotels strive to give their guests as good a view of the Falls as possible by taking advantage of their position of the height on land above the falls, once dominated solely by the Tower Hotel. In contrast, the airspace around the Skylon Tower remains fairly open, thanks to its position further down the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

away from the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls.

Naming

The Tower Hotel was originally called the ''Seagram Tower'', named after the House of Seagram business in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

. Over the years, due to multiple bankruptcies and ownership changes, tower names changed between ''Heritage Tower'' (1969), ''Royal Inn Tower'' (1971), ''Royal Center Tower'' (1972), ''Panasonic Tower'' (1973), ''Minolta Tower'' (1984), and ''

Konica Minolta is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with offices in 49 countries worldwide. The company manufactures business and industrial imaging products, including copiers, laser printers, multi-fu ...

Tower Centre'' (2003) with the merger of Konica and Minolta in 2003. The tower underwent renovations again in 2010, resulting in its colour reverting to the original white, the banner displaying ''Konica Minolta'' being replaced by the title ''Tower Hotel'', and the removal of the exterior clocks.

Features

Observation deck

Located on the 25th floor, this deck features a panoramic view of the falls and Niagara River in addition to floor-to-ceiling windows treated with a non-glare finish designed to enhance photography. There are many historical photos and news articles about the construction of the tower mounted around the deck in addition to pay-per-use

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

s. The observation deck is now closed and only available for weddings.

Restaurants

The restaurant has an International House of Pancakes location on the 26th floor, previously home to ''Marilyn's Bistro & Lounge'', a restaurant themed after

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

in honour of the film,

Niagara Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River *Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border *Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ov ...

, in which she starred. The tower's original, award-winning gourmet ''Pinnacle Restaurant'' had been located there for many years.

Weddings

Marketed through Niagara Fallsview Weddings, the tower

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

provides fully serviced weddings including consultants, cake and flowers, an officiant, and photography. Multiple packages are available and include accommodations. Fully legal weddings are offered.

Hotel

In 2002, the tower re-opened after extensive renovations to include the four-star

Ramada Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. As of December 31, 2018, it operates 811 hotels with 114,614 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand. Name The ''Ramada'' name derives from t ...

Plaza Fallsview. This franchise was lost and the hotel has operated without the Ramada flag since 2011 choosing to instead go by the new name The Tower Hotel.

References

External links

Images from the Historic Niagara Digital Collections
{{Minolta Towers completed in 1962 Observation towers in Canada Buildings and structures in Niagara Falls, Ontario Tourist attractions in Niagara Falls, Ontario Towers in Ontario Konica Minolta Restaurant towers