The Skylon Tower, in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada, adjacent to, and named after, Niagara Falls. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, the city had a population of 94,415. The city is located on the Niagara Peninsula along the western bank of the ...

, is an observation tower that overlooks both the

American Falls The American Falls is the second largest of the three waterfalls that together are known as Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border. Unlike the much larger Horseshoe Falls, of which approximately 90% is in On ...

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, and the larger Horseshoe Falls,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, from the

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side of the

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History

Construction of the Skylon began in May 1964. The tower was opened on October 6, 1965, by New York Governor

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...

and Ontario Premier

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. 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 Hershey Foods shareholdings of Charles Richard Reese, former co-owner of the H. B. Reese Candy Company of

Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to the Hershey Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey ...

. Canadian Pacific Hotels (CPH) was hired to operate the tower restaurants and lounges. On October 1, 1975, CPH purchased the tower from Mr. Reese and his partners for $11 million. The tower's summit features a verdigris-green copper roof similar to CPH's other properties, including the

Château Frontenac The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac (), is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Pl ...

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and the Banff Springs Hotel in

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. CPH owned and operated the tower until 1986, when it was sold for $18 million to two local Niagara hotel owners, John Gruyich of Michael's Inn and George Yerich of the Holiday Inn By The Falls Motel. In 1988, George Yerich bought out John Gruyich's ownership share of the Skylon for $13 million, however Milicent Gruyich continues to own the land the tower is built on. Mr. Yerich's Skylon land lease will expire in 2060, at which time the Skylon Tower will revert 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 1980s. However the property has recently been expanded to include a 3D/4D Theatre, a

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

franchise, 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. In recent years, the lights that shine up the tower at night have gone from being the typical white lights to a selection of colours that interchange. This is done in a similar fashion to the lights that shine on the falls themselves.

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

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air transport authorities, due to its proximity to the international boundary. It was the second tower to be built using the

slipform Slip forming, continuous poured, continuously formed, or slipform construction is a construction method in which concrete is placed into a form that may be in continuous motion horizontally, or incrementally raised vertically. In horizontal c ...

method, in which concrete is continuously poured into a form moving slowly up the tower. It was built by Pigott Construction of Hamilton, Ontario. The same methods were also used to build the

Inco Superstack The Inco Superstack in Sudbury, Ontario, with a height of , is the tallest chimney in Canada and in the Western Hemisphere and the second-tallest freestanding chimney in the world, after the Ekibastuz GRES-2 Power Station, in Kazakhstan. It ...

in Sudbury, and the

CN Tower The CN Tower () is a communications and observation tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 1976, it is located in downtown Toronto, built on the former Railway Lands. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway co ...

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. 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 Company Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) styled as OTIS is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. ...

from

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

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 travelling cables from the elements. The tower has two restaurants at its top, the 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 is seldom utilized.

Gallery

File:Elevator ascending Skylon Tower.jpg, Elevator Image:SkylonNiagara.JPG, View of the tower from Panoramic Parkway during the blooming of the tulips in springtime. Image:Skylon Tower Top.jpg, A view of the upper portion of the tower with dome newly polished back to its original copper. Image:Observation deck Skylon tower.jpg, Observation deck. Image:Horseshoe falls from Skylon tower.jpg, View from the outer observation deck. Image:skylon-2.jpg, Skylon Tower as seen from a helicopter. Image:Skylon_Tower_taken_1978.jpg, Skylon Tower in 1978 File:Skylon Tower interior 2023b.jpg, Skylon Family Fun Centre File:Skylon Tower interior 2023a.jpg, Shops at street level

References

External links

* * {{Structurae, id=20000281, title=Skylon
Google Maps aerial photo

Images from the Historic Niagara Digital Collections at Niagara Falls Public Library
*Video
"Skylon Tower elevator ride"

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. April 30, 2012. *Video
"Populuxe in Niagara Falls (feat. Skylon Tower)"

. August 20, 2012. Towers completed in 1965 Observation towers in Canada Towers in Ontario Googie architecture Buildings and structures in Niagara Falls, Ontario Towers with revolving restaurants Tourist attractions in Niagara Falls, Ontario Modernist architecture in Canada 1965 establishments in Ontario

History

Features

See also

Gallery

References

External links