Toronto's Famous Buildings - CN Tower, Sky Dome and Casa Loma
CN Tower - the Tallest Tower in the World
Defining the Toronto skyline, the CN Tower is Canada's most recognizable and celebrated icon. At a height of 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches), it is the World's Tallest Building and Free Standing Structure, an important telecommunications hub, and the centre of tourism in Toronto.
Each year, approximately 2 million people visit the CN Tower to take in the breath-taking view and enjoy all the attractions it has to offer. The CN Tower was built in 1976 by Canadian National (CN) who wanted to demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry by building a tower taller than any other in the world. On June 26, 1997, TrizecHahn Corporation, one of North America’s largest real estate companies signed a long-term operating and management lease for the CN Tower and its adjoining base lands. Under the management of TrizecHahn, the landmark has undergone the most significant change in its 21-year history. A $26 million entertainment expansion and revitalization opened its doors on June 26, 1998.
Although the CN Tower inspires a sense of pride and inspiration for Canadians and a sense of awe for tourists, its origins are firmly rooted in practicality. The construction boom in Toronto in the 1960's transformed the skyline characterized by relatively low buildings into one dotted with skyscrapers. These new buildings caused serious communication problems. With its microwave receptors at 338 m (1,109 ft.) and 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches) antenna, the CN Tower swiftly solved the communication problems with room to spare. As a result people living in the Toronto area now enjoy some of the clearest reception in North America.
The CN Tower is situated on Front Street which is located in the Heart of the Entertainment District. The CN Tower is easily accessible from Union Station as well as many major streets and highways. For a broader sense of the CN Tower's location, it is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Skydome - World's Greatest Entertainment Center
SkyDome is the world's first multi-purpose entertainment facility with a fully retractable roof. The stadium has become the preferred venue for various sporting events, concerts and musical shows, trade and consumer shows, and various special events.
History Architect Rod Robie described his design of the SkyDome as "a social place, a place similar to a cathedral, a place where people meet, a place with activity. We can build something that will be here for 100 years. We will build a secular cathedral. This building will be a signature for the city, the province, the country."
Situated close to Lake Ontario and the majestic CN Tower, SkyDome has become an integral part of the ever-changing Toronto skyline. Souvenir stores and sports bars surround its Front Street location, catering to the millions of fans who come to watch a game or event at the concrete and glass dome with the retractable roof.
Billing itself as "The World's Greatest Entertainment Centre," the SkyDome is designed to host practically any event. The complex is three venues in one - an open-air facility during the spring and summer; a domed stadium for fall and winter; and "SkyTent", an intimate setting for 10,000 to 30,000 throughout the year.
The SkyDome also offers a place to stay for an extended period (the SkyDome Hotel); seven restaurants and bars that cater to various wining and dining desires; a state of the art fitness club to work out in; more than 12,780 square metres of usable floor and field space; and fixed seating for up to 55,000.
Since the inaugural opening on June 3, 1989, SkyDome has been the home to three major league sports teams, the two-time World Series-winning Toronto Blue Jays, the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts and the NBA's Toronto Raptors. The stadium has also hosted the World Indoor Track and Field Championships, hundreds of musical performers ranging from Madonna to Sinatra, The Canadian International Auto Show, the Basketball World Championships....and the list goes on.
SkyDome Milestones
Performance Magazine "Best New Venue" - 1989Stadium of the Year: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
SkyDome's highest single event attendance was Wrestlemania VI - 67,678, (December 9, 1990)
SkyDome's 5 millionth visitor, May 4, 1990 (11 months after opening)
SkyDome's 25 millionth visitor, September 10, 1993 (that's an average of 16,000 per day)
The Toronto Blue Jays - All time American League Attendance records four years in a row:
- September 23, 1990 3,885,284
- September 23, 1991 4,001,058
- October 4, 1992 4,028,318
- September 26, 1993 4, 057,947
Interesting Facts and Trivia
SkyDome has the world's first fully retractable roof consisting of four panels. The roof moves at a rate of 71 feet (21 metres) per minute and takes 20 minutes to open or close. When the roof is open, 100% of the field and 91% of the seats are uncovered.
SkyDome consists of enough concrete to build a sidewalk from Toronto to St. Louis.
There are 9,000 lightbulbs and 776 (2,000 watt) field lights in SkyDome.
8 Boeing 747's or 743 Indian elephants could fit on the SkyDome field.
With the roof closed, a 31 story building could fit in SkyDome.
SkyDome's structure is large enough to hold either the entire Eaton Centre, the Roman Coliseum or St. Paul's Cathedral.
The JumboTron gives every seat in the house an expanded view of the action on the field. It measures three stories high by nine stories wide (1/12 of an acre), making it the largest display board in the world.
There are 161 SkyBoxes (private suites) ranging in size from 16-40 person capacity. Complete with hosts, catering services, bars, and televisions this can be rented out for an entire season or individual games and events.
Seating capacity: baseball 50,600 football 53,000 concerts 55,000 other events up to 67,000.
The field is covered 106 rolls of astroturf. The "strips" of turf are fastened together by 8 miles (12.8 km) of zippers - the equivalent of 50,000 pairs of blue jeans.
SkyDome Hotel is the first hotel in the world to be fully integrated into a domed sports and entertainment facility. Seventy of its 348 rooms overlook the playing field.
The SkyWalk, a fully-accessible climate-controlled pedestrian walkway links the SkyDome and the CN Tower to Union station for easy access to subways and trains. The SkyWalk also links up with Toronto's Underground Walkway, an underground city with 11km of interconnecting passageways featuring 1,200 stores and services beneath the Financial District's 8 city blocks.
Casa Loma - Toronto's Famous Castle
The soldier, financier, industrialist and incurable romantic behind this castle was Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. The Eldest of six children, he graduated from Upper Canada Collage and went off to see the world. He was fascinated by art, antiques, military tradition and especially castles, which he sketched, measured and memorised. At 17 he joined his father's stock brokering business. At 18 he joined the Queen's Own Rifles, Canada's second oldest regiment of which he later became commanding officer. At 20 he won the North American Champion Mile Race, finishing the last 100 yards in 12 seconds a feat not equalled until 1930 by Jesse Owens. Then Henry married Mary Dodgson, a well-connected society girl, and proceeded to make his fortune.
Henry's Midas touch began at age 20 when he formed the Toronto Electric Light Company. Henry expected immigrants to pour into Canada, so while no one else believed in the West, he invested heavily in the Northwest Land Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway. His accurate speculation paid him approximately $4,000,000 which he reinvested in Canadian Multi-national power companies. He organised the Electric Development Company of Ontario and had the first Canadian Generating Station built at Niagara Falls. For the latter, he was knighted by King Edward VII. Sir Henry was ready to build his castle.
Edward Lennox, the famed architect of Toronto's Old City Hall, combined all Sir Henry's favorite castle sketches into one colossal medieval structure, and construction began in 1911. Sir Henry personally interviewed each of the several hundred workmen. Stonemasons imported from Scotland cut and laid the grey sandstone from the Credit River. It was Henry's final intention to leave the castle to the city as a historical and military museum. To this end the main floor was constructed of reinforced concrete covered with teakwood to support the heaviest military equipment then known. The basement was made large enough to drill a regiment. Henry had planned to build his castle for $250,000. In fact the wall surrounding the castle ended up costing him that. The first building permit for the foundation alone cost $30,000.
In June 1914 the Pellatts moved in and began living somewhat uncomfortably amidst the largely unfinished interior. World War One broke out soon after, delaying construction indefinitely. By the 1920s the costs of upkeep skyrocketed. Taxes were $12,000 a year, the heating bill $25,000 a year and the 40 servants required to maintain the castle cost 22,000 a year. Meanwhile Henry's investment business suffered with the difficult economic times. In 1923 the Home Bank went bankrupt with Henry's firm owing $1,700,000. Lady Pellatt died of a heart attack shortly there after, and Sir Henry gave up his castle, never to return as a resident. In a five-day auction the $1,500,000 furnishings went for $250,000. As for Sir Henry, the genius who had earlier amassed a fortune of 17,000,000: he died in 1939 at age 80 with $35,000 to his name. His funeral was the largest in Toronto's history.