Seagram/Royal/Panasonic/Minolta Tower
Attraction Type: Specialty Hotel/Gift Shop(s)
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario
Years Operational: 1962-Present
Designer(s): Horton and Bell Architects, Byer's Construction Company
The 325 foot tall Seagram Tower opened in 1962 in the Fallsview district, next to the pre-existing Burning Spring building. The small, long out of date observation tower (circa 1924) incorporated into the Burning Spring structure was demolished, and next door Niagara Falls would receive it's first major observation tower. A group of local businessesmen came together to form Niagara Tower Limited, with the majority of the funds being provided by the House of Seagram distillery, the Canadian alcohol company behind Crown Royal whisky and Seagram's Gin among other products. Ground was broken on March 15th, 1961, with the Tower being designed by Horton and Bell Architects of Kitchener, and Byer's Construction Company of Montreal leading the construction. The Tower would rise 325 feet tall, cost $1.2 million (in 1961 dollars), and weighs nineteen million pounds, being the first structure in North America built using the "Slipform" construction method that would later be used to build both the Skylon and CN Towers. A small fire occurred during construction in September of 1961, but resulted in little damage despite burning for six hours.
The Tower under construction in 1961.
The Tower complex in 1962, the tallest beacon in Niagara Falls at the time.
Completed Tower in it's opening year in 1962.
The Tower would open on June 1st, 1962, just in time for the height of the tourist season. The Tower was originally topped with a two-level outdoor observation deck, and the 25th floor indoor observation deck features special non-glare, floor to ceiling windows. The most luxurious experience in the Tower was the gourmet Pinnacle Restaurant located on the 26th floor, providing the highest indoor view in the complex. The Pinnacle won several awards over the years and was originally a renowned place to eat in Niagara Falls. The rest of the floors were dedicated to hotel rooms, save for the large gift shop that occupied the ground floor and the basement.
Walt Disney meets with Mayor Franklin Miller atop the Tower in 1962. Rumor has it he was in town because The Falls was the first location considered for Walt Disney World, but the Canadian winters meant the park would only be seasonal, so the site was chosen in Florida instead.
While somewhat lost amongst the modern Niagara skyline, the Tower was the first observation tower in the area, and at the time was the city's tallest structure. Due to being mostly financed by Seagram's, the Tower was deliberately shaped like a giant shot glass, being affectionately referred to by locals as "the world's biggest shot glass". While no secret upon opening, rather being part of the branding, it's just subliminal enough to go over the heads of people nowadays who don't know the building's history.
The Burning Spring building next door was subsequently purchased by businessmen Malcolm Howe and Arthur White, and renovated into the Burning Springs Wax Museum the following year. In addition to the wax museum, White also constructed a large outdoor fountain between the wax museum and the Tower, but this fountain would be unlike any other that existed at the time. The fountain was known as Waltzing Waters, a large dancing fountain, even programmed with synchronized lights at night. It was a technological marvel at the time, unlike anything the world had ever seen, and at a time when computers were in their infancy. There was also the "World of Shops", a two-level indoor mall in a separate building on the other side of the Tower from the wax museum and Waltzing Waters. The World of Shops even had a miniature golf course located on the opposite side of it from the Tower, between the mall and Portage Rd.
Flushed out complex featuring the mini golf, World of Shops, Waltzing Waters, Burning Springs Wax Museum, and Tower View Amusement Park, 1967.
Across the street was also the small and short lived Tower View Amusement Park, and an incline railway on the hill leading down to Table Rock Centre below would be built in 1966 to connect the Tower complex with Queen Victoria Park. While the Tower instantly became an icon of Niagara Falls, it's long line of financial woes began early on. It would be absolutely dwarfed just a few short years after it's opening by the 520ft tall Skylon Tower just a few blocks away, which began construction in 1964 and opened in 1965. While the Skylon featured no hotel element, it became the new must-visit observation tower in the Falls. Whether this contributed to its first sale or not is unknown, but it was sold in 1966 to Louis Bolus and the aforementioned Arthur White.
Incline Railway postcard, 1960's.
White would buy the Tower completely in 1969 and rename it the Heritage Tower after Heritage Restaurants leased the dining options in the Tower. To coincide with this he constructed the National Marine Aquarium of Canada in the former World of Shops Mall, opening in 1970. The Tower View Amusement Park closed to make way for the new World of Shops as well as the Niagara Falls Bus Terminal, however the carousel initially remained inside the mall with the new structure built around it. Two high rise hotels flanking the Tower were planned but never materialized, ironic considering what surrounds the Tower now (see below.) White's full ownership of the Tower was short lived, selling it to Royal Inns Canada in 1971, however he would continue to own the other attractions around it. The Tower was renamed the "Royal Inn Tower", however Royal Inns' ownership of the Tower would be the shortest, going bankrupt the very next year in 1972 and ownership being reverted back to White and the Bolus family who owned the land the Tower and attractions around it were on, as well as the physical buildings.
Artist's rendering of the original plan for the tower's remodel with the hotels. The Aquarium and relocated World of Shops would come to fruition however.
The arcade (silver roof) and theatre (square building) to the left of it, behind the Aquarium, 1980's.
The complex would now be known as the "Royal Centre Tower", with more of a focus put on the Tower being part of a complex of several attractions rather than attempting to draw people in using only the Tower itself in a changing tourist landscape. An arcade structure and a small theatre building would be added to the former parking lot between the Tower and the Aquarium around this time. The miniature golf course was removed to make way for the new parking area. A second arcade would also open in the basement level of the Tower's base, and a third in the World of Shops across the street.
The name would be changed just a year later in 1973 when Panasonic leased the naming rights to the Tower, dubbing it the "Panasonic Tower". Large electronic clocks were added to the exterior. With the complex's unfortunate financial record still not improving, White would sell the Tower, Aquarium, and wax museum to Japanese-Canadian businessman Takeshi Shimizu in 1976, president of Panasonic Canada. Shimizu apparently couldn't make it work either however, and the Tower was closed by Bolus (who had continued to own the land and physical buildings) in 1977 due to it owing back taxes. It would manage to reopen however, but to no avail, and by 1980 the Tower owed over $320,000 to the City, who were actively threatening to take over the Tower. Shimizu would end up selling the Tower business (and other attractions) to the Bolus family in 1981, marking the first time they had owned the Tower business since 1969 despite owning the physical building and land the entire time.
Sale of the complex in 1976. From left to right: Mr. Shimizu and his wife, Arthur White, and Mayor George Bukator.
The renamed Panasonic Tower in 1976.
For the first time, someone was actually able to turn the complex around. Minolta leased the naming rights to the Tower beginning in 1984, renaming it the Minolta Tower, the name it remains the most synonymous with to this day. Little change would occur over the next few years save the for the ownership of the wax museum shuffling around. Big changes came in the early 90's however. The wax museum closed first in 1991, being briefly replaced with the Dare Devil Gallery attraction that had relocated from Stanley Ave., before it closed as well in 1992 and the historic Burning Spring building was demolished in 1993. The theatre and arcade buildings in the parking lot were also demolished around this time. Arthur White sold Waltzing Waters, his final attraction in the complex, in 1992. It would later move across the street in 1995 and end up closing in 2000, with the Aquarium closing and being demolished in 1996. The bus terminal and World of Shops mall were replaced the same year with the Radisson Fallsview, however the structure was saved and incorporated into the new hotel tower built beside it. The structure home to the carousel since the Tower View Park days remains, although the carousel was removed.
Minolta Tower decorated for Christmas, December 1992.
Demolition of the old Burning Spring building in 1993.
The cleared land around the Tower in the late 90's. The towering Marriot Fallsview and Embassy Suites would soon replace the former wax museum and aquarium.
The Tower was sold to Rado-Mat Holdings in 1993, who owned the Radisson and Holiday Inn in Niagara Falls, NY. In 1995, the 2000 sq. ft Cybermind V.R. Centre leased out space in the arcade base of the Tower. It's unknown if they took over the entire arcade or just a portion of it. The V.R. arcade was part of a Canadian chain based out of the Toronto area, and featured various forms of "Virtuality" V.R. arcade machines running various games. Namco's massive 6-player "Galaxian 3" arcade machine was one element confirmed to be held over from the original arcade, implying Cybermind was perhaps only leasing a portion of the space. The Marriot Fallsview would eventually be constructed on the site of the former Burning Springs Wax Museum/Waltzing Waters in 1998, with the Embassy Suites being constructed on the former site of the Aquarium in 2003. The Embassy Suites is considerably taller than the Tower right next door, a clear representation of how the industry had changed so much by the 2000's that the once grand observation tower was now being overshadowed by regular hotels which weren't even considered specialty observation structures.
Entrance to the complex featuring the Cybermind sign in the late 90's.
The front desk of the Tower in the late 90's showing the admission-based attractions guests could buy tickets for.
A guest plays a Virtuality machine in the only surfaced photo from inside the mural-covered walls of Cybermind, 1995.
The Tower was renamed yet again to the Konica-Minolta Tower in 2003 following the merger of Konica and Minolta. Around the same time, Cybermind closed along with the other arcade in the Tower's base complex. The Pinnacle Restaurant finally closed after almost 50 years in the late 2000's, being replaced with Marilyn's Bistro and Lounge, a restaurant themed around Marilyn Monroe. In 2010, the clocks were removed from the Tower along with the Konica-Minolta branding, and it simply became known as the Tower Hotel. The former gift shop was finally removed completely at this time to create a more welcoming, expanded lobby. An IHOP replaced Marilyn's in the mid-2010's, the outdoor observation decks closed, and the indoor observation deck on the 25th floor became reserved solely for event bookings
The Tower now sandwiched between the Marriot Fallsview and the massive Embassy Suites, as part of what's now deemed "Hotel Row".
The story of the Tower is one of a complex that simultaneously revolutionized the Falls yet was also doomed to fail. It started the trend of observation towers in the Falls, revolutionized construction in North America, and kickstarted the expansion of the Fallsview district, yet was overshadowed by the Skylon Tower just two years after it opened. It's confusing identity issue due to the string of rapid name changes through the 1970's, resulting from bankruptcy after bankruptcy, led many in the City to think of the Tower as financially cursed. By the time it had finally found it's footing in the mid 80's, it was somewhat too late, as the other attractions in the complex aged and the rest of the tourism industry had long moved on from the Tower itself.
The Tower, once one of the tallest structures in Canada, now peeks out from behind the sea of towering skyscrapers. Despite it's recent height disadvantage, it remains eye catching for it's unique design amongst this concrete jungle.
The Tower remains a reflection of the changes in the area, as the Fallsview district is now known for its glamorous high-rise hotels, especially since the opening of the towering Fallsview Casino and it's attached hotel in 2004. While other areas like Clifton Hill have so far managed to keep their identity to a certain degree, the "Vegas-ification" of the Fallsview district leaves more accessible tourist offerings like the Tower either closed or in the dust. This leads to the reality that the fact the Tower remains open despite its past issues (and all the other attractions in the area closing to make way for luxury shopping and dining) a miracle. Perhaps it's simply because this spectacular feat of engineering is simply too difficult to demolish, or too ingrained in the public conscious. Either way, the Tower has certainly withstood whatever winds have blown its way no matter how strong, and this gorgeous, historic, structure will hopefully continue to do so for years to come.