![]() In its Report on Designation, the Landmarks Preservation Board wrote, “The Space Needle marks a point in history of the City of Seattle and represents American aspirations towards technological prowess. On April 21, 1999, the Space Needle’s 37th birthday, the City’s Landmarks Preservation Board named it an official City of Seattle Landmark. The Legacy Lights remained lit for eleven days straight in response to the September 11th attacks in 2001. The powerful beam of light is powered by lamps that total 85 million candela shinning upwards from the top of the tower to honor national holidays and special occasions. The Space Needle unveiled its Legacy Lights for the first time. April 21, 1997įor its 35th anniversary in 1997, the tower introduces a new, short-lived mascot, Sneedle. The iconic grunge rock band Nirvana visits the Space Needle. ![]() The April Fools prank received international attention and overwhelmed Seattle’s 9-1-1 emergency system with people who believed it was real. The live broadcast included a mocked-up graphic of the tower in ruins on the ground. One evening in 1989, the KING-TV Almost Live comedy show ran a spoof news bulletin announcing that the Space Needle had fallen over. The 100’ SkyLine level was added as a special event space, hosting view-spectacular weddings, receptions, and business meetings. He was featured in a popular children’s story and later became the mascot for Seattle’s NBA basketball team, the SuperSonics. The infamously shy, orange character resembled Bigfoot with a bright red nose and lived atop the tower. Local Seattle author Stephen Cosgrove introduced the beloved character, the Wheedle. 1963Īfter the fair, a radio broadcast booth was built on the Space Needle for a local radio station. The mast originally topping the structure was a natural gas torch that was lit up at night in rainbow colors. They included world celebrities including Elvis Presley, the Shah and Empress of Iran, Prince Philip of Great Britain, Bobby Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Chubby Checker, Billy Graham, John Glenn, Jonas Salk, Carol Channing, Neil Armstrong, Lyndon Johnson, Walt Disney and scores of others. During the expo the tower hosted an estimated 2.65 million visitors. The Space Needle officially opened the first day of the World’s Fair. The Space Needle’s chief engineer, John Minasian, had also designed rocket gantries for NASA. In keeping with the 21st Century theme of the World’s Fair, the final coats of paint were dubbed ‘Astronaut White’ for the legs, ‘Orbital Olive’ for the core of the structure, ‘Re-entry Red’ for the Halo and ‘Galaxy Gold’ for the sunburst and pagoda roof. The basic Space Needle tower was completed in December 1961, eight months after it began. Once the pour was completed, the foundation weighed as much as the Space Needle itself, establishing the center of gravity just five feet above ground. It took 467 cement trucks an entire day to fill the hole, and the largest continuous concrete pour ever attempted in the West. An underground foundation was poured into a hole 30’ deep and 120’ across. Wright Construction Company, progressed quickly. However, just before the search was abandoned, a suitable 120-foot-by-120-lot on the site of an old fire station was found and sold to investors for $75,000 in 1961, just 13 months before the opening of the World’s Fair.Ĭonstruction, managed by the Howard S. Early investigations indicated such a plot of land did not exist. The tower had to be privately financed and situated on land that could be acquired for private use on the fairgrounds. Location and financing were also major challenges. Home sweet home … planting our three legs. Architect Victor Steinbrueck came up with the wasp-waisted tower shape based on an abstract sculpture of a dancer called “The Feminine One.” 1961 Graham’s team worked on sketches and ideas before a final design was reached just a year and a half before the World’s Fair. fresh from his success in designing the world’s first auto-centric shopping mall (Seattle’s Northgate) and experimenting with a revolving bar in Hawaii, focused on a flying saucer-shaped top house. Carlson’s initial sketch underwent many transformations, including designs that resembled a landed UFO, a tethered balloon and even a cocktail shaker with a tram ferrying visitors to the top.Īrchitect John “Jack” Graham, Jr. The first obstacle was the structure’s final design. Carlson and his supporters soon found moving the symbol from doodle to the drawing board, and then to the construction phase, was far from easy.
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