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Showing posts with the label Towers

Portugal - Lisbon - Belém Tower - Metalcraft

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Belém Tower or the Tower of St Vincent is a fortified tower located in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém in the municipality of Lisbon , Portugal . It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (along with the nearby Jerónimos Monastery ) because of the significant role it played in the Portuguese maritime discoveries of the era of the Age of Discoveries . The tower was commissioned by King John II to be part of a defence system at the mouth of the Tagus river and a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. The tower was built in the early 16th century and is a prominent example of the Portuguese Manueline style, but it also incorporates hints of other architectural styles. The structure was built from lioz limestone and is composed of a bastion and a 30-metre (98.4 ft), four-storey tower. It has incorrectly been stated that the tower was built in the middle of the Tagus and now sits near the shore because the river was redirected after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake . In fact, the tower was ...

Great-Britain - London - Big Ben - Metalcraft

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Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower . The tower in which Big Ben is located is officially called the Elizabeth Tower; originally just the Clock Tower, it was renamed in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II . The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin in a neo-gothic style. When completed in 1859, it was, says horologist Ian Westworth, "the prince of timekeepers: the biggest, most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world". It stands 315 feet (96 m) tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry is 334 steps. Its base is square, measuring 39 feet (12 m) on each side. Dials of the clock are 23 feet (7.0 m) in diameter. On 31 May 2009, celebrations were held to mark the tower's 150th anniversary. [5] Big Ben is the largest of five bells and weighs 13 1⁄2 long tons (13.7 tonnes ; 15.1 short...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Burj Al Arab - Metalcraft

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The Burj Al Arab is a luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates . It is the third tallest hotel in the world (although 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space). Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to resemble the sail of a ship. It has a helipad near the roof at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground. The beachfront area where Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Miami Beach . The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 meters offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel. The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tanks, known locally as Kazzans on the site. The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as ...

USA - Seattle - Space Needle - Metalcraft

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The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle , Washington , a landmark of the Pacific Northwest , and an icon of Seattle. It was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World's Fair , which drew over 2.3 million visitors, when nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators. Once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River , it is 605 ft (184 m) high, 138 ft (42 m) wide, and weighs 9,550 tons . It is built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour (89 m/s) and earthquakes of up to 9.1 magnitude, as strong as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake . It also has 25 lightning rods . It has an observation deck at 520 ft (160 m) and the rotating SkyCity restaurant at 500 ft (150 m). The downtown Seattle skyline, as well as the Olympic and Cascade Mountains , Mount Rainier , Mount Baker , Elliott Bay and surrounding islands can be viewed from the top of the Needle. Photographs of the Seattle skyline often show the Space Needle prominently, above skyscrapers an...

USA - New York - One World Trade Center - Metalcraft

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One World Trade Center (also known as 1 World Trade Center, 1 WTC or Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan , New York City . It is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere , and the sixth-tallest in the world . The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center , which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 . The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site , on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center . The building is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center

Canada - Toronto - CN Tower - Metalcraft

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The CN Tower ( French : Tour CN) is a 553.3 m-high (1,815.3 ft) concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto , Ontario , Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands , it was completed in 1976, and held the record for the world's tallest free-standing structure for 32 years from 1975–2007 and was the world's tallest tower until 2009 being overtaken by Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower , respectively. It is now the third tallest tower in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere , a signature icon of Toronto's skyline, attracting more than two million international visitors annually. Its name "CN" originally referred to Canadian National , the railway company that built the tower. Following the railway's decision to divest non-core freight railway assets prior to the company's privatization in 1995, it transferred the tower to the Canada Lands Company , a federal Crown corporation respons...

China - Shanghai - Shanghai World Financial Center - Metalcraft

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The Shanghai World Financial Center is a supertall skyscraper located in the Pudong district of Shanghai , China . It was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by the Mori Building Company , with Leslie E. Robertson Associates as its structural engineer and China State Construction Engineering Corp and Shanghai Construction (Group) General Co. as its main contractor. It is a mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and ground-floor shopping malls. Park Hyatt Shanghai is the tower's hotel component, comprising 174 rooms and suites occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, which at the time of completion was the highest hotel in the world. It is now the third-highest hotel in the world after the Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong , which occupies floors 102 to 108 of the International Commerce Centre . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_World_Financial_Center

USA - San Antonio - Tower of the Americas - Metalcraft

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The Tower of the Americas is a 750-foot (230-meter) observation tower-restaurant located in the Hemisfair district on the southeastern portion of Downtown San Antonio , Texas . The tower was designed by San Antonio architect O'Neil Ford and was built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair, HemisFair '68 . It was the tallest observation tower in the United States from 1968 until 1996, when the Las Vegas Stratosphere Tower was completed. It is the tallest building in San Antonio, and the 27th tallest building in Texas . The tower is located in the middle of HemisFair Park and has an observation deck that is accessible by elevator for a fee. There is also a lounge and revolving restaurant at the top of the tower that provides panoramic views of the city. The fastest recorded time up the tower's 952 steps is 5 minutes 18 seconds on January 29, 1981. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_the_Americas