Space Needle

An observation tower in Seattle, Washington, built for the 1962 World’s Fair. Regarded as an icon of the city, it is a designated Seattle landmark.

The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington. It stands at 400 Broad Street in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood and was built in the Seattle Center for the 1962 World’s Fair, which drew more than 2.3 million visitors. Regarded as an icon of the city, it was designated a historic landmark by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Board on April 19, 1999.

The tower is 605 feet (184 m) high and was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi River in the United States. Elevators carry visitors in 41 seconds to an observation deck 520 feet (160 m) above the ground, with views of downtown Seattle, the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Elliott Bay and islands in Puget Sound.