For many cities, the picture that the public holds in their imagination is defined by one certain image. There’s New York City’s famous Manhattan skyline, the St. Louis Arch, the Los Angeles “Hollywood” sign, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. For Toronto, Canada, that image is unquestionably the majestic CN Tower. When it opened in 1976 it was at the time the world’s tallest building at 1,815 feet. Built to be a broadcast transmission tower for Toronto area TV and radio stations, it serves that purpose but is also a major tourist attraction, with 2 million people visiting it annually. The main “Look Out” level is a seven-story structure two-thirds of the way to the top that houses observation levels and the world’s highest and largest revolving restaurant. The ride to “Look Out” is in glass-faced elevators and takes 58 seconds. Once there you can walk across a section of glass floor and look straight down to the base of the tower. Then you can take another interior elevator 33 stories higher to the “Sky Pod” level, at the very top of the concrete part of the structure and just below the antenna part. At the time it was built, the “Sky Pod” was the world’s highest observation deck, at 1,465 feet.



The CN Tower
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
2009