CN Tower

The CN Tower is in Toronto, a big city in Canada.

It is very, very tall and thin. Near the top is a round part where people can stand and look out. Above it, a long pointy antenna reaches up into the sky.

The CN Tower stands in downtown Toronto, close to the shore of Lake Ontario. It is 553 meters tall, which made it the tallest freestanding structure in the world for more than 30 years. A freestanding structure stands up on its own, with no cables holding it.

The tower has a long concrete shaft, a round pod near the top where visitors look out, a smaller lookout called The Top higher up, and a tall antenna on the very top. It was built so radio and TV signals could reach across the city. Today it still sends out signals, and more than two million people visit every year.

The CN Tower is a broadcast and telecommunications tower in downtown Toronto, built on former railway land between Front Street and Lake Ontario. Its official height is 553 m (1,815 ft). The tower's own history says it remained the world's tallest freestanding structure until Dubai's Burj Khalifa passed it in 2009; Britannica dates the change to 2007, when the then-unfinished Burj Dubai rose above it.

The design combines a 335 m concrete shaft, a hexagonal core with three curved support arms, a seven-story pod holding observation levels and the revolving 360 Restaurant, a higher lookout called The Top at 447 m (once named the SkyPod), and a 102 m antenna. Britannica lists the designers as John Andrews, Webb Zerafa, Menkes Housden and E.R. Baldwin. Today the tower is run by the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation, serves more than 17 television and FM radio stations and welcomes more than two million visitors a year.

The round part near the top has windows all around. One floor is made of glass, so you can look straight down!

Higher up is a small lookout called The Top. On a clear day, people up there can see Niagara Falls.

The big round pod has several levels. The Main Observation Level, 346 meters up, has walls of windows all around. One floor lower, a glass floor lets you stand and look 342 meters straight down. The 360 Restaurant slowly turns in a circle, so diners see the whole city. On EdgeWalk, 356 meters up, visitors walk around the outside of the pod, clipped to a safety rail above them.

Higher still is The Top, 447 meters up, the highest lookout. On a clear day, people can see as far as Niagara Falls. On top is the 102-meter antenna, which carries radio, TV and cell phone signals.

The main pod is a seven-story sphere. The tower's site places the Main Observation Level, ringed by window walls, at 346 m (1,136 ft), with a two-tiered Glass Floor whose lower tier, on the Lower Observation Level, looks 342 m straight down; CNN's fact file dates the first Glass Floor to June 26, 1994. Britannica puts the revolving restaurant at some 1,151 ft (351 m). EdgeWalk, opened on August 1, 2011, is a circular outdoor ledge on the restaurant's roof at 1,168 ft (356 m), where visitors walk attached to an overhead safety rail; a wheelchair-accessible version followed in 2015.

The Top (formerly the SkyPod), at 447 m (1,465 ft), is the highest observation deck; the tower's site calls it the highest observation platform in the Western Hemisphere and says that on a clear day the view reaches about 160 km, as far as Niagara Falls. The 102 m (335 ft) antenna carries radio, television and cellular signals; the tower's own site says it serves more than 17 television and FM radio stations.

Today, lots of people visit the CN Tower. It is the best-known building in Toronto.

Next to it is a big baseball stadium. The tower still sends out TV and radio signals too.

The CN Tower is Toronto's best-known landmark. More than two million visitors come every year, and more than 500 people work there. Next to the tower is the Rogers Centre, home stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

The tower still does the job it was built for: it is the center of telecommunications for Toronto and sends out signals for more than 17 television and FM radio stations.

Britannica calls the CN Tower by far Toronto's most distinctive landmark, a major tourist attraction with observation decks, a revolving restaurant and an entertainment complex. The tower's own site reports more than two million visitors a year and more than 500 people working there through the year.

Its original purpose continues: the tower is Toronto's telecommunications center, serving more than 17 Canadian television and FM radio stations. The Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, stands beside it. Owned by the Canada Lands Company since 1995, it is presented as Canada's National Tower.