It was not all that easy to build, though. Surprisingly, nobody died in the construction of the Space Needle. However, three people have died from jumping off of the Space Needle to commit suicide. (Crowley, Walt)
The Space Needle was built for the Century 21 Seattle World's Fair in 1962. (World Book encyclopedia) It was built as a symbol of the United States' space program. At the time, the United States was trying to get a man on the moon before the Soviets, or Russia, did. (Carleson, Laurie Winn and Green, Michael K.)
Eddie Carlson came up with the general shape of the Space Needle in 1959. The Space Needle design went through many transformations in the drawing stage. It started with a tethered balloon shape, and then went to a balloon shaped top house on a central column anchored by cables. The designer of the world's first shopping mall, John Graham, changed the balloon design to a flying saucer. (spaceneedleinfo.com)
There was one problem, though. King County wouldn't fund the Space Needle, but that is explained later. After some improvements, construction started on April 17, 1961. It took less than a year to build, and was topped on December 8, 1961.
The Space Needle rises to six hundred five feet tall, which is about 185 meters. (World Book encyclopedia) This is approximately one thousand three hundred twenty Milky Way candy bars stacked. Its center of gravity is approximately five feet above the ground. The Space Needle has one hundred twenty square feet underground, and thirty feet deep. (Craven, Jackie) It took four hundred sixty seven cement trucks and twelve hours to fill the hole. It was the longest continuous concrete pour attempted in the West. It is one hundred thirty eight feet wide, but it expands about an inch in hot weather, and weighs three thousand seven hundred tons. The foundation weighs five thousand eight hundred fifty tons, which makes a total of nine thousand five hundred fifty tons. Seventy-four thirty-two foot long bolts anchor the Space Needle. (Crowley, Walt) When the Space Needle was almost finished, the final coats of paint were added. To go with the Century 21 theme, the colors were called Astronaut White for the legs, Orbital Olive for the core, Re-entry Red for the halo, and Galaxy Gold for the Roof. The Space Needle will withstand wind up to two hundred miles per hour, but some storms still cause it to close. Earthquakes have caused it to sway, but it obviously hasn't fallen over yet. (Craven, Jackie) The Space Needle can withstand all of that because the architects built it to double most of or all of the state's regulations. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)
When it was time to start building the Space Needle, King County refused to fund it. Financer Bagley Wright, financer Ned Skinner, timber magnate Norton Clapp, architect John Graham Jr., and contractor Howard S. Wright then got together and formed the Pentagram Corporation to pay for the Space Needle. The land for the Space Needle cost $75,000, and is still in private ownership of the Pentagram Corporation. Total, the Space Needle cost $4.5 million. (Crowley, Walt) Later, another town in Washington, Fife, offered $1 million to move the Space Needle to their town. Obviously, Seattle refused and decided to keep the Space Needle. (Spaceneedleinfo.com)
The Space Needle also has two restaurants. One restaurant is at the one hundred foot level and the other is at the five hundred foot level. The idea for a restaurant in the sky came from Stuttgart, Germany, when Eddie Carlson dined in a restaurant at the city's broadcast tower. The idea for the revolving restaurant came from Honolulu, Hawaii. People became convinced that the World's Fair needed a restaurant in the sky, and it became the second revolving restaurant in the world. The first restaurant that was built was the one at the five hundred foot level, and is called SkyCity restaurant. It is circular and rotates about one time in one hour. (Destination360.com) It is powered with a 1.5 horsepower electric motor. The restaurant held a gala, or festive celebration, after the Space Needle was finished. During the World's fair, the Space Needle attracted 2.3 million visitors. The number of people going began to decrease, so they built a second restaurant to attract more people. The one hundred foot level, called the SkyLine restaurant, was finished on May 19, 1982. It was nicknamed the “Wheedle in the Needle.” (Crowley, Walt)
It took a long time for Washington State to allow the Space Needle to become an official historic landmark. It was finally approved on April 19, 1999. It was the first structure to be approved on the basis of all six-designation criteria. A couple of those criteria include architectural merit and historic and physical prominence. (Crowley, Walt)
