Since it opened 21 years ago, the CN

Tower has been a source of pride of

accomplishment for Canadians. It is
truly a wonder of modern design,
engineering and construction. At a
height of 553.33m (1,815 ft, 5 inches), it
is the World's Tallest Building and FreeStanding Structure, an important
telecommunications hub, and the centre
of tourism in Toronto. Each year,
approximately 2 million people visit the
world's tallest building to celebrate its
achievement, take in the breathtaking
view and enjoy all of the attractions the
CN Tower has to offer.

History
The Tower inspires a sense of pride,
inspiration and awe for Canadians and
tourists alike. However, its origins are
firmly rooted in practicality.
During Toronto's building boom in the
early 70's, a serious problem was
developing. People were experiencing
poor quality television. And it wasn't just
the sitcoms. The pre-skyscraper
transmission towers of Toronto stations
were simply not high enough anymore.
As office buildings were reaching higher
and higher, TV and radio reception
began suffering from 'ghosting', or a
weakening of clarity. Signals from
Toronto and from Buffalo, New York
were bouncing off the buildings. As a
result viewers often saw a weaker station

superimposed over another. In effect,

they were watching two shows at once.
And this was before channel surfing
allowed us to do this on purpose. It
became clear that what we needed was
an antenna that would not only be taller
than any building in the city, but one that
would be taller than anything that would
probably ever be built.
In 1972, Canadian National (CN) set out
to build a tower that would solve the
communications problems, serve as a
world class entertainment destination,
and achieve international recognition as
the world's tallest tower.
The Tower's microwave receivers are
located 338 m (1,109 ft) above the
ground in the radome (the donut-shaped
collar at the base of SkyPod). The

important VHF, UHF and television

equipment intrinsic to the Tower's
purpose as a broadcast transmission
facility are located here. Incoming
signals are monitored and fed to the
antenna for transmitting. Further up at
360 m (1,180 ft) is the centre of FM
broadcasting in Toronto. CFNY,
CHUM, CHFI, CKFM, Q107, CHIN,
CJRT, CJEZ, CBC radio and City TV,
CFTO-TV, TVO, CBLT, CFMT,
Global, CBLFT, and CICA all use the
Tower's superior transmission
capabilities.

The transmission equipment, although

powerful, is extremely sensitive. The
radome, designed to protect it from the
elements, is a teflon-coated fibreglassrayon fabric which can hold the weight
of an average adult male yet measures
only 1/32 of an inch. Its balloon-like
shape results from inflating the skin to
five times its normal size then
maintaining constant pressure.

CN Tower Construction
Breaking new ground
When engineers started to plan the
foundation of the CN Tower, they were
breaking new ground in more ways than
one. Never before had anyone been
faced with the task of designing a base
so far into the ground and they came up
against many construction challenges
unique to this project.
After an elaborate series of tests on the
soil to assess the condition of the
bedrock and determine how it would
react to changes in hydrostatic pressure,
the work was ready to begin. On
February 6, 1973, hundreds of people,
engaged in a historic enterprise, moved
in and started to carve out the launching
pad for the World's Tallest Building.
They removed 56,234 metric tonnes
(62,000 tons) of earth and shale before
pouring a thick concrete and steel
foundation 6.71 m (22 ft) deep on a base
of hand-and-machine-smoothed shale.
Supporting the World's Tallest Building
is a tall order and by the time it was
finished the y-shaped foundation
contained 7,046 cubic metres (9,200
cubic yards) of concrete, 453.5 metric
tonnes (500 tons) of reinforcing steel and
36.28 metric tonnes (40 tons) of thick,
tensioning cables. The thoroughness and
speed with which the foundation was
laid is noteworthy. The complete
foundation was in place just four months
after the first spade of earth had been
turned.
Building the Tower inch-by-inch
Once the foundation was ready, work
began on the Tower's 335 m (1,100ft)

concrete shaft a hexagonal core with

three curved support arms. 1,537 people
worked round the clock for 40 months to
pour the concrete and raise the Tower
inch by inch.

24 hours a day, five days a week,

concrete was poured into a massive mold
or "slipform". As the concrete hardened,
the slipform, supported by a ring of
climbing jacks powered by hydraulic
pressure, moved upwards, gradually
decreasing in size to produce the
Tower's gracefully tapered contour.

completed on February 22, 1974, it had

become the tallest building in Canada.
Building a seven-storey building
at 1,100 feet
In August of 1974, workers began
building, the Towers crowning glory, the
SkyPod, a seven-storey building that
would eventually house two observation
decks, 36O Revolving Restaurant,
Horizons, the GLASS FLOOR and
various technical areas. This
construction in the sky involved lifting
318 metric tons of steel and wood
brackets up the sides of the Tower using
45 hydraulic jacks and miles of steel
cable. To build the observation level,
workers bolted brackets to tensioned
steel bars and placed concrete in the
wooden frames, then placed a three-feethigh compression ring around the
outside.

The CN Tower contains 40,538 cubic

metres (53,000 cubic yards) of concrete
and ensuring its integrity was vital to a
construction project of this magnitude.
In order to maintain consistency, all
concrete used in the Tower had to come
from the same source. Workers mixed
every ounce of the concrete on site,
continuously testing and re-testing it and
then reinforcing it with a unique system
of post-tensioning.
Day-by-day, concrete was poured and
the Tower began its slow ascent over
Toronto. As its shadow lengthened, it
was already a major topic of
conversation among Canadians and a
subject of intrigue in international
media. When the slipform was

The radome (the donut-shaped collar at

the base of SkyPod), protects the
Tower's sensitive microwave equipment
and is essential to its intrinsic purpose as

a broadcast transmission facility. All of

the important VHF, UHF and television
equipment is located here. Incoming
signals are monitored and fed to the
antenna for transmitting. The radome is
designed to protect this equipment from
the elements but still enable it to receive
transmissions. The radome is a tefloncoated fibreglass-rayon fabric which can
hold the weight of an average adult male
yet measures only 1/32 of an inch. Its
balloon-like shape results from inflating
the skin to five times its normal size then
maintaining constant pressure.

Creating the two-storey Space Deck, the

World's Highest Public Observation
Gallery, involved Cantilevering a
concrete platform around the top edge of
the Tower. A glass wall was suspended
from the overhang of its roof, banking
inwards at the bottom and completely
enclosing the upper storey.

commissioned to assemble the Tower's

antenna, the slim, stacked broadcasting
receptor rising 350 feet from the shaft.
Before it could start lifting pieces of the
antenna into the sky, the helicopter
dismantled the crane in eight sections.
After that, Olga lifted the 36 pieces of
the antenna into place with remarkable
precision. As the helicopter raised each
piece of the antenna, fearless workers
helped manoeuvre and bolt the new
piece into place in gusting winds and

When the concrete part of the Tower

was completed, Torontonians bid
farewell to the familiar CN Tower crane
which had worked tirelessly for almost
four years. But its replacement was
equally impressive--Olga, the giant
Russian Sikorsky helicopter

freezing temperatures. Amazingly, the

entire operation lasted only 3 1/2 weeks
and by the end, 0lga had executed 55
lifts.
Keeping the Tower on the straight and
narrow

As the Leaning Tower of Pisa has

shown, tall slender buildings have a
tendency to incline or, in the case of the
CN Tower and other buildings in the
northern hemisphere, twist counterclockwise. When planning and building
tower-like structures, engineers must
ensure that they have the ability to
remain within plumb (a method of
measuring vertical nature). After 21
years, the CN Tower is within 2.79 cm
(1.1 inches) of plumb, a testimony to the
technological advancements employed
by its engineers.
CN Tower engineers attached two
optical plumbs specially designed to
keep tall buildings straight to permanent
mounts on the tower and suspended a
113.4 km steel cylinder from an aviation
cable in the Tower's core. As well,
several permanent survey stations are

located at remote locations, equipped

with surveyor's transit.
Building the World's Tallest Tower
At 9:52 a.m. on March 1, 1975, Olga,
the huge Russian Sikorsky helicopter
placed the 44th and final piece of the
antenna mast on top of the CN Tower
bringing its official height to 553.33 m
(1,815 ft, 5 inches). At that point, the
Guinness Book of World Records named
it the World's Tallest Free-Standing
Structure, a title unsurpassed since that
day. In 1996, the designation was
officially changed to World's Tallest
Building and Free-Standing Structure.
Worldwide, Canada's CN Tower is
recognized as a magnificent feat of
modern design, engineering and
construction. The CN Tower was
conceived from a need for a broadcast
transmission facility and evolved into an
internationally recognized Canadian
landmark. Canadian National (CN)
provided the initial proposal for the
Tower in 1968 and worked with an
international consortium of experts to
develop the final model in 1972. The
three curved legs of the final model are
remnants of an initial design which
called for three towers linked by
structural bridges.
Although there are many magnificent
freestanding structures in the world, the
CN Tower was the first of its size and
type and a major achievement for
Baldwin and Franklin Architects, the
Toronto firm which provided the initial
design and construction of the Tower.
When it was built, it revolutionized
engineering and today remains a
symbol of human ingenuity pioneered
by Canadians. Not only did the firm

accomplish a major feat of engineering,

but in their time, they pushed forward
the boundaries of science and
technology.

Elevator control --The CN Tower's

six high-speed elevators are linked
to their own elaborate control
system. In the event of a power
failure, five 450 KW diesel
generators supply emergency power
within 10 seconds. If the elevator
exceeds a certain speed or starts to
fall, the most can drop is 1.83 m due
to plodding devices which
automatically jam into the elevator
shaft.

Wind resistance -- Like all tall,

narrow buildings, the Tower sways
in extreme wind conditions but it
can withstand winds of up to 260
mph (418 kph) and two ten-ton
swinging counterparts, mounted on
the antenna, ensure that it never
exceeds acceptable conditions. The

Going up
Each year about 1.6 million people visit
the CN Tower and they are whisked to
the SkyPod by high-speed elevators in
just 58 seconds. In March, 1997, the
Tower improved this service by
introducing two new elevators providing
not only an increased passenger capacity
of 1,600 people an hour, but also a brand
new view of downtown.
Finding space for the two new elevators
was not a problem. The Tower's original
engineers anticipated increased
attendance and left room for additional
elevators. However, there was an
emergency staircase located in the space.
To install the elevators, the staircase had
to be relocated and still remain
accessible at all times. It was dismantled
from the North face of the Tower and
moved bit by bit into the hollow interior
of the Tower where it remains today.
The reconstruction involved adding an
additional nine steps to the staircase,
bringing the total number of steps to
2,579 and setting a new world record.
One of the world's safest structures
In addition to its numerous world record
titles, the CN Tower can claim an
excellent safety record. When people
visit a structure of such height, they are
naturally apprehensive and
concerned about safety. A number of
innovative, built-in safety features and a
diligent workforce helps to put people's
fears to rest. Here are some of the
highlights of our safety program:

armour-plated windows on the

observation levels and restaurant were
carefully designed for extreme wind
tolerance with outside panes of 95 cm
thickness and inside panes of 64 cm
thickness. The resistance of various
parts of the Tower in winds of 100 mph
are as follows:
Dynamic Peak:
SkyPod - 1ft., 7 inches from centre
Space Deck - 3ft., 4 inches from centre
Antenna - 6ft., 8 inches from centre
6

Fire safety --The CN Tower has had a

perfect record against fire due to a
carefully conceived design, interior
monitoring system and diligent security
force. In the event of fire, emergency
generators supply power for the
elevators and other devices. Emergency
fire pumps send water to the top of the
Tower at a rate of 2,273 litres a minute.
Two reservoirs containing 68,190 litres
of water are also maintained in the
SkyPod.
Capturing history for future generations
At the CN Tower's official opening on
October 1, 1976, a time capsule was
sealed to commemorate the day. It
contains a letter from then Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau, letters from
each provincial Premier, letters from
school children, copies of the three daily
newspapers, Canadian currency and To
The Top, a video about the Tower's
construction. To this day, the capsule
and its memories remain safely tucked
away inside the walls of the Tower on
the indoor observation levels.

The Straight Goods: The Facts at a

Glance.
If you're only looking for a quick answer
to your question, or you're trying to
settle a bet, this is the best place to start
your search.

The CN Tower was built by the

Canadian National Railway.
Opened to the public on June 26,
1976
Official opening on October 1, 1976
Original cost: $63 million
Adjusted cost (1997 dollars): $250
million
Total construction time: 40 months
Number of construction workers:
1,537
Total weight of the Tower: 117,910
metric tonnes (130,000 tons)
Volume of concrete: 40,523.8 cubic
metres (53,000 cubic yards)
Reinforcing steel: 4,535 metric
tonnes (5,000 tons)
Structural steel: 544.2 metric tonnes
(600 tons)
Number of elevators: 6 (including 2
which officially opened March 20,
1997)
Speed of elevators: 6 metres/second
(20 feet/second)
Slow speed of elevators (in high
winds): 1.5 metres/second (5
feet/second)
Attendance: about 1.8 million per
year
Total staff (off season):
approximately 400
Total staff (peak season):
approximately 550
Maximum sway in 190 km/h winds
with 320 km/h gusts (120 mph winds
with 200 mph gusts):

Antenna: 6 ft., 8 in. from centre

Sky Pod: 3 ft., 4 in. from centre
Tower Sphere: 1 ft., 7 in. from centre

Windows: Double-pane armourplated

Thickness of windows: Outer pane 9.5 mm (3/8 inch), inner pane - 6.4
mm (1/4 inch)
Capacity of 360, The Restaurant at
the Tower: 400 people
Time it takes to revolve once: 72
minutes
Capacity of Horizons Caf: 500
people
Broadcast Facilities: UHF, VHF
Television; FM Radio; Microwave
Transmissions; Fixed Mobile
Systems
Companies that broadcast from the
Tower:

CBC Channel 5 & 25, CFMT 47,

CFTO 9, City 57, Global/CIII 41,
TV Ontario 19, LOOK
Communications (Digital),
CHFI/Rogers, CFNY FM, CHIN
FM, CHUM FM, CILQ FM, CJEZ
FM, CJRT FM, CKFM FM, Bell
Canada, Cantel, Motorola, TTC

Thickness of The Glass Floor: 2 1/2

". Layers, from the top down:
3/16" scuff plate (replaced annually)
Two 1/2" layers of clear tempered glass, laminated together
A one inch layer of air (for insulation)
Two 1/4" layers of clear tempered glass, laminated together
Size of each panel: 42" by 50"
Load tests are performed annually on each panel to ensure safety.