This week’s Eye Weekly Stroll column goes vertical and pokes around ideas of what the CN Tower (still) means to us now that its 30-plus-year run at the top of the world is over. Most interesting in researching this piece is how many times there were headlines over the last 30 years where some building somewhere threatened “our” title (like in 1978 when a tower for Expo ’84 in Tokyo was planned). It is remarkable that it didn’t happen sooner, even in the 1970s, when skyscraping was still in the tail-end of the post-war boom.
Every time I walk down Ossington Avenue a block north of Bloor, I register the CN Tower in my peripheral vision — but when I turn to look at it I’m surprised each time because I’m not seeing the tower but rather the dome of the Ukranian Catholic Church of the Holy Protection on Leeds Street. Houses along this part of Ossington block the actual tower, but it’s such a landmark on all of our mental maps of Toronto that my brain replaces what is actually there with the CN Tower. Wherever we are in Toronto we can either see or sort of feel its position and proximity to us. It is the compass that lets us know where we are.
The CN Tower has so penetrated our civic consciousness that it hardly matters that after nearly 32 years it’s about to lose its status as the world’s tallest freestanding structure to the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) in the United Arab Emirates. When our tower was built, its world-beating status was a matter of civic and national pride, transcending regionalism the way Expo ’67 or Wayne Gretzky and the rest of the 1980s Edmonton Oilers did. The CN Tower gave all Canadians bragging rights.
There was an article on the CBC site yesterday that said in other Canadian cities “people dismissed the blow to Toronto’s ego with a laugh” with some anonymous Winnipegger quoted as saying: “I guess they’ll have to get a big box of Kleenex and get used to it.” This seems like such lazy journalism, and why I increasingly think the Toronto vs. Canada thing is mostly fed by middling J-school schmucks trying to drum up a fake story (though the CBC was probably doing it in jest, it’s part of a larger phenomenon). I don’t think the CN Tower losing the record is a blow to anybody here, nor do I think Canadians see it as an opportunity to Toronto-bash/laugh-at — except when prompted by a reporter’s leading question. During 25 years of living in Windsor, a city with a major Western Alienation complex (bigger than Calgary’s!), I don’t recall ever hearing an ill or jealous word about “Toronto’s Tower” — it was “our tower.” I’m sort of glad the Dubai tower is taller, so now the CN Tower can be appreciated without the baggage of the record.
It would be neat to hear about people’s favorite view of the tower. I’ve got a bunch, but some are at the farthest reaches of its sight-line. Once coming back from Orangeville we took dirt sideroads to avoid the Sunday night traffic and as we rolled over the last dark hill somewhere on the Oak Ridges Moraine (we were happily kind-of lost) the entire GTA was suddenly spread out before us with the tower marking the middle.
Lightning photo by Sam Javanrouh
17 comments
For a while I lived on a six-storey building near Kennedy & Eglinton in Scarborough. That’s quite a distance from the tower. But, from my balcony that faced southwest, it always gave me a satisfying sense of place to see it in the distance, a referential toothpick in the distant horizon. Now that I’ve moved further east and in the much lower altitude of a bungalow, I miss having it in constant view.
I overheard somebody asking a CN Tower tour guide about the tower losing its status.
He said something to the effect of “not on my watch!” and “we have ways of making it taller.”
I assume that is just a tour guide inside joke, but it has happened to other landmarks in the past.
However, to be taller than the Burj Dubai’s completed height, the antenna would have to be seriously extended.
I usually don’t care much about the tower, but with the change in record, I’ve suddenly become a bit defensive about it. It is something we’re proud of, as bizarre and irrelevant a landmark as it may be.
When I was at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, they had a listing of all of the other impressive towers in the world, except for Toronto. I walked around incredulous for a while.
My favourite view of the tower is a bit sappy I guess.
I used to live in Peterborough, and I would frequently take the bus to Toronto to visit the S.O. There is a point on Highway 115 right before it hits the 401 from which you can see Toronto on a clear day, and I always liked seeing the tower from there.
Every time I visit Toronto, the Tower has always been a welcome sight–a visual reference that I’ve almost reached my destination. Whether I’m flying into Pearson and catch a glimpse out of the plane’s window or driving the QEW from Niagara, it’s always there on the horizon. And for me, it will always be a visual reference that I’m almost there.
At least we can still go where no else in the world can go…The Sky Pod…
“The Burj Dubai website boasts that its 124th-floor observatory, 442 metres up, will be “the highest publicly accessible observation deck in the world.”
Not quite. The CN Tower’s Sky Pod is 447 metres above ground.”
-Today’s Toronto Star
Christina> When I lived in a tower at Yonge and St. Clair I would use the view of the CN to gauge how dirty the air was. There were some summer days it disappeared into the haze.
Dave> Some of those lists leave off the CN because it’s not a “building” I think. Still…
My favourite view of the tower is the one I see everyday, traveling east on Gerrard St. 2 blocks east of Woodbine Ave. at Golview. The street makes a curve and suddenly there it is, the entire skyline is projected in front of you as if it was way closer than it actually is.
My favourite view of the tower is looking south-west on the Bloor-Danforth subway, just as the train leaves Warden station before the train goes underground to Kennedy. You have to strain your view to the left as the subway crosses St. Clair Avenue, but you can see it peeking over the treetops. It’s like the tower is saying goodbye as you head out to Scarborough.
The view of the skyline on Millwood Road bridge is rather awsome too.
I lived in downtown Toronto for 5 years, and it was just great. It’s true, the CN tower gives you more than just a sense of direction.
Now, I live an hours drive from where Burj Dubai is going to be built….
…I don’t feel quite great about it, because this country is building the tower with underpaid labourers- who don’t have any rights, no protection against injuries, no proper health insurance… it’s sad.
I had the pleasure of working at the Tower through my university years. On a windy day, my favourite thing to do was lie on the grass at the base and look straight up. When there are clouds in the sky and they’re being pushed along by the wind, from that vantage point it appears as if the Tower is slowly leaning and falling towards you. But don’t do it right after lunch.
Steven> Somewhere in 2002 or so we left some event at the Steam whistle across the street and wandered over to the CN at 2am or so to lay in the grass and look up at it — sadly though we were removed by security because the Tower is such a target. It might have been 9/11 hysteria, but maybe you still can’t lay in the grass and look up at it.
My favourite view is from everywhere. My friends and family tease me mercilessly because I can navigate this city better than any other. Here, I know my north from my south and my east from my west – because I measure it all against the tower. When I’ve gone too far north and it’s no longer in view, I lose my sense of direction. I think of it as my alert system; if I’m in the GTA but the tower isn’t visible, I’ve gone too far away from the city centre and need to get back home. 🙂
My favourite view of the tower is looking south from the north end of King’s College Road in the University of Toronto, near Convocation Hall and University College. There, the tower is almost perfectly framed between the university buildings on two sides of the street, which is very photogenic.
My favourite view is seeing it, just peeking between downtown buildings, as I walk down Broadview Ave. from the Danforth. It’s a beautiful scene of the downtown core, overlooking Riverdale Park. It’s my favourite, as well, because whenever I’m there, it’s always because I’m walking home with my boyfriend.
My favourite view of the tower is looking south from the north end of King’s College Road in the University of Toronto, near Convocation Hall and University College. There, the tower is almost perfectly framed between the university buildings on two sides of the street, which is very photogenic.
There’s a sculpture on the grassy area south of Hart House that lines up perfectly with the CN tower. http://www.dittwald.com/torontosculpture/image.php?Artist=Gillespie&Title=Sight%20Line
Not sure if I have an all-time favourite view, but I love when I’m going to a Jays game and can track my progress toward the Dome by using the Tower. I’ll start out seeing it way in the distance as I’m crossing the bridge on Eglinton over Kennedy Station and then I’ll bookend the trip there by looking up at it in awe (as always) from right under it as I come out of the SkyWalk.