The Konica Minolta Tower Centre, opened in 1962, is located in the Fallsview

Fallsview Tourist Area

The Fallsview Tourist Area in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada is the main tourist attraction surrounding the Falls. In recent years, it has become the home many of the hotels in the city, such as: the Hilton Hotel, Marriott, and the recently-opened Comfort Inn Fallsview. Niagara Fallsview Casino...

 district of Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...

 and was the first of the modern observation towers built near the brink of the Falls.

The Tower Hotel was originally called the Seagram Tower, named after the House of Seagram business in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. Over the years, due to multiple bankruptcies and ownership changes, tower names changed between Heritage Tower (1969), Royal Inn Tower (1971), Royal Center Tower (1972), Panasonic Tower (1973), and Minolta Tower (1984-2007). It features an indoor observation deck, restaurant, wedding chapel, and hotel. From street level, the tower is 99 metres (325 feet) tall, however it is situated 160 metres (525 feet) above the falls. The tower underwent renovations again in 2010. This time the exterior was painted white, the banner displaying Konica Minolta on it was removed, with a banner displaying the title Tower Hotel now in its place, and there is no longer a clock on the building.

Previous towers

For more than 100 years, there had been various, but much smaller, towers built throughout the area with most of them being wooden structures. The two most famous were probably the wood construction tower that was located at the top of Drummond Hill on Lundy's Lane behind the historic Drummond Inn, and Street's Pagoda on Cedar Island.

• Drummond Hill Tower was built for visitors to have an aerial view of the War of 1812
  War of 1812
  The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
  
   Battle of Lundy's Lane
  Battle of Lundy's Lane
  The Battle of Lundy's Lane was a battle of the Anglo-American War of 1812, which took place on 25 July 1814, in present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario...
  
   battle field and the Drummond Hill Cemetery where many British and American soldiers killed during the battle are buried.

• Street's Pagoda was named for an early area settler, Thomas "T.C." Street, who had ownership of Cedar Island, located between the Horseshoe Falls
  Horseshoe Falls
  The Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls, is part of Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River. Approximately 90% of the Niagara River, after diversions for hydropower generation, flows over Horseshoe Falls. The remaining 10% flows over the American Falls...
  
   and Dufferin Islands
  Dufferin Islands
  Dufferin Islands are a group of scenic man-made islands located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, approximately 1/2 mile south of the Horseshoe Falls...
  
  . This tower was dismantled in 1887, and Cedar Island was eventually made part of the mainland with the construction of the Rankine Generating Station upriver by 1910.

Construction

Construction began in 1961, and was reportedly the first using of the slipform construction method in North America. One minor fire occurred on the roof on September 2, 1961, due to spillage of hot-mix concrete igniting a tarp and causing several propane tanks to explode. Damage was minimal, estimated at "a few thousand dollars", and nine people suffered minor injuries battling the blaze.

The tower opened for business on July 1, 1962.

Observation deck

Located on the 25th floor, this deck features a panoramic view of the falls and Niagara River in addition to floor-to-ceiling windows treated with a non-glare finish designed to enhance photography. There are many historical photos and news articles about the construction of the tower mounted around the deck in addition to pay-per-use telescope

Telescope

A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...

s.

Pinnacle Restaurant

Renovated in March 2005, the tower's restaurant offers gourmet meals featuring steak and seafood. At the same elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

 as the Observation Deck, the restaurant is open for three meals per day. Group and à la carte

À la carte

À la carte is a French language loan phrase meaning "according to the menu", and used in* A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants * To order an item from the menu on its own, e.g...

 menus are available, and the restaurant can be reserved for wedding receptions. In addition, the Pinnacle Lounge can be booked for private gatherings. The restaurant was redesigned by Robin De Groot

Robin De Groot

Robin De Groot is a Canadian designer famous for both his design creations and personality on the HGTV and Food Network television program Restaurant Makeover, which is broadcast in 16 countries worldwide....

 for the television program Restaurant Makeover

Restaurant Makeover

Restaurant Makeover is a closed television series which airs as reruns on the Food Network Canada and HGTV Canada, as well as the Fine Living channel and Food Network in the United States, TVtropolis and in over 16 other countries worldwide. The pilot episode starred designer Robin De Groot and...

, completely transforming the environment and menu to the delight of Niagara Falls.

Weddings

Marketed through Niagara Fallsview Weddings, the tower chapel

Wedding chapel

A wedding chapel is a place, other than a legal court, and usually also, other than a church, where couples can get legally married. A church may also be used as a wedding chapel, but churches are usually called that by the marrying couple when the ceremony only involves those contracting matrimony...

 provides fully serviced weddings including consultants, cake and flowers, an officiant, and photography. Multiple packages are available and include accommodations. Fully legal weddings are offered.

Hotel

In 2002, the tower re-opened after extensive renovations to include the four star Ramada

Ramada

Ramada is a hotel chain owned and operated by Wyndham Worldwide.- History :The lodging chain was founded in 1953 by longtime Chicago restaurateur Marion W...

 Plaza Fallsview. Falls view and city view rooms feature queen beds, while suites include king beds.

Changing skyline

A recent boom in large hotel construction has diminished the tower's prominence as a landmark. All of these hotels strive to give their guests as good a view of the falls as possible by taking advantage of their position of the height on land above the falls, once dominated solely by the Konica Minolta Tower. In contrast, the airspace around the Skylon tower remains fairly open, thanks to its position further back from the Niagara River

Niagara River

The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...

.

Ironically, when the tower and surrounding area was first designed prior to groundbreaking on March 15, 1961, it was to be the centrepiece of a proposed hotel/convention centre. Due to finances, the accompanying hotel buildings were not built, and it would be over forty years before hotels began to rise adjacent to the tower.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the surrounding land was occupied by an aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

 to the north, and the Waltzing Waters attraction to the south. The Waltzing Waters site was moved across the street in 1995 to allow for site planning of the current Marriott

Marriott International

Marriott International, Inc. is a worldwide operator and franchisor of a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities. Founded by J. Willard Marriott, the company is now led by son J.W. Marriott, Jr...

hotel. The Waltzing Waters, a light and water show synchronized to music, disappeared altogether by 2000. The aquarium was dismantled in 1996 to allow for further site expansion.

External links

• http://www.niagaratower.com/
• Images from the Historic Niagara Digital Collections