The Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire in England which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it rises to 158m. The Tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers.The tower can be seen from most places within a 30-mile (48 km) radius including Barrow-in-Furness, Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Southpor. It is a Grade 1 listed building.
Construction
The idea for the tower came when Blackpool Mayor John Bickerstaffe commissioned the design of a new landmark for the town after he visited the Great Paris Exhibition in 1889 and was impressed by the Eiffel Tower. When he returned to Blackpool he set up a committee of businessmen in order to raise the funds to build a similar design in the town.
He invested £2,000 of his own money to form, with other local investors, the Blackpool Tower Company Limited, registered on 19 February 1891.
Two Lancashire architects, James Maxwell and Charles Tuke, designed the Tower and oversaw the laying of its foundation stone, on 29 September 1891 with a time capsule buried beneath it. By the date the Tower finally opened on 14 May 1894, both men had died. The total cost for the design and construction of the tower and buildings was about £290,000. Five million bricks, 2,500 tonnes of iron and 93 tonnes of cast steel were used to construct the tower. The cast steel and iron are distributed in such a way that if it did ever collapse it would fall into the sea.
Unlike the Eiffel Tower, Blackpool Tower is not free-standing. Its base is hidden by the building which houses Blackpool Tower Circus. The building occupies a total of 5,050 sq metres (6,040 sq yards). At the summit of the tower there is a flagpole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_Tower
http://www.freefoto.com/images/37/01/37_01_54---Blackpool-Tower_web.jpg?&k=Blackpool+Tower
No comments:
Post a Comment