Right in the heart of the Sydney central business district rises the 305-metre Sydney Tower, a distinctive, highly visible Sydney landmark and the city’s tallest structure, more than two and a quarter times the height of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at its highest point.
Sydney Tower provides an aerie-like platform to view Sydney and its surrounds.
On a clear day, you can see as far as the Central Coast in the north, the Blue Mountains in the west and Wollongong and the Illawarra Coast in the south.
But Sydney Tower is not just a landmark, an observation deck, and a point of reference for those who lose their way in the city.
It is a dining venue with its revolving restaurants, a source of dynamic audiovisual Australian information with its OzTrek attraction, and beneath it a constellation of shops in the Westfield Centrepoint shopping centre.
Crone's vision
Sydney Tower was officially opened on September 27, 1981, with construction having started seven years earlier.
Built to withstand earthquakes and gale-force winds experienced only once every thousand years, Sydney Tower is a towering testimonial to the work of architect Donald Crone whose vision it was to create this landmark "needle" in the sky.
The turret of Sydney Tower is equivalent in size to that of a nine-storey building. It can accommodate a maximum 960 people and is serviced by three high-speed elevators. Fifty-six steel cables stabilise the tower.
A tower by any name
There is some confusion about its name as many Sydneysiders refer to this structure as Centrepoint Tower. Then there was the time it was called AMP Tower (after its owners) with the letters AMP emblazoned on the turret’s sides.
Whatever it has been called before, and there are mentions of Centrepoint Tower in a number of travel guidebooks as well as in certain street directories, this is now officially called Sydney Tower.
Centrepoint Tower, AMP Tower and Sydney Tower are not separate structures but the one same towering Sydney landmark.
Because it is visible from many parts of the city, Sydney Tower has been used to highlight city events, particularly the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when wire figures of Olympic athletes were installed on it.
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