CN Tower (Edmonton)

The CN Tower is an 111 m, 26-storey office building located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The building was built by the Canadian National Railway Company as Edmonton's first skyscraper, and at its completion in 1966 was the tallest building in Western Canada. The CN Tower would remain Edmonton's and Western Canada's tallest building until 1971 when it was surpassed by Edmonton House.

History
When the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) opened its line from Winnipeg in 1905, it built a station northwest of First Street and Mackenzie Avenue (now 101 Street and 104 Avenue). In 1909 this station became a union station, also serving trains of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP), when that road opened its line from Winnipeg.

After the CNoR and GTP were consolidated into the Canadian National Railway (CN), a new Edmonton station was built east of the CNoR station in 1928, as a terminating vista of 100 Street.

The 1905 CNoR station was demolished in 1953. The site of the 1928 station became the spot the CN Tower was constructed on in 1966.

Plans for the CN Tower were announced in 1963, with construction started in fall of 1964. Allied Development Corporation of Calgary hired Abugov & Sunderland to design, and Hashman Construction Company to build the $10.5-million CN Tower, which was Western Canada's tallest office building when completed in October 1966. The opening ceremonies for the building were attended by Lieutenant Governor Grant MacEwan and Premier Ernest Manning.

The CN Tower exemplifies the International Style of architecture and is an early example of the tower-podium design. Canadian National sought to develop a second building in Edmonton as part of a larger downtown redevelopment program, which would have been a 492.6 ft, 42-storey office building in 1969; however, the project was subsequently cancelled. The CN Tower was purchased by the Calgary-based Strategic Group as part of a distress sale, and the last remaining CN employees moved out of the building in 2008. The CN logo is still over the main entrance and on the top of the building.

Built to overlook the old Canadian National rail yard, the building's basement once housed Edmonton's main passenger railway station, until the CN railway tracks leading to Downtown Edmonton were removed in 1998. Since then, passenger trains have stopped at the Edmonton railway station on 121 Street near Yellowhead Trail. The Canadian Pacific Railway stopped at a different station in the city. Passenger trains were discontinued at that station in 1972, with the CPR station itself being demolished in 1978.

The building suffered structural damage to the exterior on 18 July 2009, during a severe thunderstorm. Two vehicles were crushed by falling debris at the base of the building.