Sydney International Airport Tower

This is the fifth control tower at this location which maintains service at the Sydney International Airport. Its creation was to accommodate the growth of the airport and its new north-south runway. Construction began on this tower in August of 1993 and became operational on January 6^th 1996

Tokyo Tower. Godzilla’s Chew-Toy

This 1,092-ft (332.6 m) tall tower is the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world, tallest in Japan and ranks as 20^th tallest tower in the world.

This tower supports broadcast antennae for television and radio signals and has been instrumental in the push to convert digital signal availability over the older analog broadcast signal. And the tower enjoys quite a reputation as a major tourist site for Tokyo as well.

Spinnaker Tower Portsmouth, UK

Situated on the waterfront of Gunwharf Quays overlooking Portsmouth Harbour, the Spinnaker Tower is the tallest publicly accessible structure in the entire UK. This tower is 170m tall, making it taller than Big Ben, the Blackpool Tower and the London Eye. Part of the ‘Millennium projects,’ this tower brings a regeneration scheme to the nation and was completed and opened for business in October 2005.

Eiffel Tower

Tower of towers, this world-know icon is no longer the tallest but it still impresses the hearts and the minds of the world over.

Named after its designer Gustave Eiffel, this is still the tallest building in Paris. More than 200-million people have visited the tower since its creation in the year 1889.

The Eiffel Tower held the world’s tallest tower record of 1,063 ft (this include the 79-ft tall antenna) until 1930, when the Chrysler Building in NYC surpassed this height at 1,047 ft (319 m) The Eiffel Tower currently holds the 5^th tallest building title. Most loved? I have no doubts. -Still #1.

Tallest Freestanding Structure

A member of the World Federation of Great Towers, right here in my home city of Toronto, Ontario CANADA, the 1815 ft 5-in (553.34 m) tall CN Tower was the tallest building in the world until 1975. It was in that year that it was surpassed by the still under construction Burj Bubai Tower.

Still, the CN Tower is the tallest freestanding tower in the Americas, and defines the skyline of this city as part of what attracts the more than two million visitors every year.

“CN” originally stood to represent “Canadian National”, the railway company that built the tower. Divestiture occurred, and the company privatized in 1995 under the name of the “Canada Lands Company.”

Local residents wished to retain the name “CN Tower” and the name now is said to stand for “Canada’s National Tower” instead of “Canadian National Tower,” but either is generally accepted as valid.

CN Tower Shadow

Nothing more to add except that having been up in this tower several times myself, I needed to share this view. Below you can see the railway yards that originally help give name to this tower.

Brick Castle Tower

Not all towers are super tall. To be a “tower,” a manmade structure only needs to be taller than the natural environs around it. And this ancient looking construct impresses me. I think it is very handsome and during its time it must have been a much heralded achievement

It’s Not Man Made. It’s Devils Tower

For a kick-ass tower, one need look no further than Devils Tower National Monument. 400,000 visitors each year climb this tower, which for its natural beauty and astounding height over the surrounding topography, I chose to include in this list.

Found in the northeastern corner of Wyoming, USA, this igneous ‘volcanic neck’ is 1,267-ft tall (386m) and 5,112 feet above sea level. Volcanic intrusion is believed to have been the force that created this; a volcano forced its way up through sedimentary layers and ceased. The softer sedimentary layers have eroded away, leaving the ‘neck’ of igneous rock still frozen in its volcanic form.

Proclaimed a National Park by President Theodore Roosevelt in Sept. 1906, today the park encompasses 1,347 sq. acres (5.45sq. k).

The name “Devil’s Tower” (note the apostrophe) is said to have originated in 1875 when Col. Richard I. Dodge may have misinterpreted the local name as being “Bad God’s Tower,” which would be later shortened to “Devil’s Tower.” Geographic standardization of naming followed whereby the apostrophe of the area landmarks were removed, and this became “Devils Tower.”

You might remember Devils Tower in the climatic scenes from the 1977 Steven Spielberg science fiction movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

(All Images are CreativeCommons)