The Space Needle is a true ‘Eiffel Tower’ of the western United States. The observation tower and restaurant was built in 1962 on the occasion of the World Exposition in Seattle, which was a great success. The originators of the Space Needle wanted to create a tower reminiscent of a balloon pinned to the ground or an alien ship, but the final choice was a compromise between the two ideas. At 184 m high, the structure was formerly the tallest tower in the western USA, adding to the importance of the world exhibition. Interestingly, the Space Needle’s robust structure can withstand earthquakes of up to 9 on the Richter scale. Today, it is a symbol of Seattle.
Thanks to the efforts of local authorities and residents, Washington raised funds to host a world exhibition to showcase the ‘technology of the future’. During the Cold War, advances in space conquest dictated the relationship between the US and the USSR, so a large part of the exhibition focused precisely on mock-ups and designs of satellites, rockets and probes. However, the commercial success of the exhibition depended primarily on an impressive showcase.
Postcard design
The eye-catching symbol was to be a tall, futuristic tower with an ‘alien ship’ at the top. This was the idea of one of the exhibition organisers, Edward Carlson, who liked the design of the Stuttgart TV tower. The German tower, which dates back to the 1950s, rises to over 216 metres and also houses a restaurant at the top. The first sketches of the Space Needle were made on the back of postcards, and the idea seemed perfect for a world exhibition. The organiser sketched a tall tower with a balloon-like object based on the original from Germany. This hastily drawn idea had yet to be presented to architect John Graham, who would lean on the feasibility of such a project.
Graham made sweeping changes to the makeshift sketch of the Space Needle. The balloon was replaced with a ‘flying saucer’ and the base was given a more expressive and stable form. The several-storey top of the tower stood on three curved steel pillars. In turn, a lift located in the middle could transport visitors to the five levels of the ‘saucer’. In addition to the observation deck, the top also houses a revolving restaurant, penthouse and technical rooms. Remarkably, the project was completed at lightning speed, with work continuing until the last day before the exhibition began anyway.
The Space Needle was immediately featured on all the postcards and posters promoting the exhibition. The futuristic design effectively made visitors curious about the theme of space exploration, and the original colours of the tower resembled those used to paint real spaceships. The top also featured a distinctive 15-metre high gas lamp and an electronic carillon playing various melodies.
Pavilion of the future
In addition to ‘space’ inventions, the exhibition featured achievements from fields such as automotive, avionics, energy, cinematography, art and many others. The Century 21 pavilion showcased nuclear shelters, a city of the future, futuristic Ford and Pontiac cars and a monorail. The latter exhibit still exists today and still carries passengers on a 1.5km route. Other pavilions showcased films, advances in commerce and a wide range of art. Artists included representatives of American modern art such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, while classical art was represented by works by Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rubens. The exhibition also featured pavilions of foreign exhibitors.
After the exhibition, the Space Needle served the city as an observation deck, a restaurant and, most importantly, a new landmark. Until 1969, it was the tallest building in the state, dethroning the Smith Tower – a skyscraper measuring 148m – after almost 50 years. Unfortunately, just two years after opening, the mechanism that rotates the restaurant at the top was destroyed in an earthquake. In the Cascadia region covering the north-west of the USA and Canada, earthquakes of up to 9.2 on the Richter scale are not uncommon. In the 1970s, a radio station operated in the tower, and a decade later a 30 m high banquet hall was added to the block.
Dust after the space race
To this day, the 1962 expo remains one of the biggest commercial successes in the event’s history. The Century 21 Expo helped to present to the world an image of America as a technologically advanced country that was catching up with or even overtaking the USSR in the space race. In reality, the US only caught up with the Soviet space programme at the end of the decade.
The Space Needle’s futuristic architecture was the inspiration for future television towers and observation decks. The site was listed as a historic monument in 1999 and the terrace underwent a major renovation in 2017. Today you can admire the slowly rotating glass floor at the top of the tower.
Source: On Verticality
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