Blackpool Tower
Blackpool Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, yet its most famous room is a gilded ballroom, and its circus ring can fill with water.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire coast
- Opened
- 14 May 1894
- Height
- 158 metres (518 ft)
- Inspiration
- The Eiffel Tower in Paris, seen at the 1889 Exposition
- Architects
- Maxwell and Tuke
- Ballroom redesign
- Frank Matcham, 1899
- Famous organist
- Reginald Dixon, at the Tower Wurlitzer from 1930 to 1970
- Heritage status
- Grade I listed (1973)
A Paris copy on the Lancashire coast
Blackpool Tower exists because of Paris. After the Eiffel Tower dazzled crowds at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, Blackpool wanted a tower of its own, and wanted it to pay. The backers saw that a resort needed attractions to beat the weather. So the tower was only part of the plan. It was built above an entertainment complex that originally included an aquarium, a menagerie, a circus, a roof garden and a ballroom, so that a wet afternoon in Blackpool could still earn money. Blackpool's former mayor John Bickerstaffe was a leading figure in the scheme. The architects were Maxwell and Tuke, and the Tower opened on 14 May 1894.
Half an Eiffel, twice the entertainment
At 158 metres, the Tower is roughly half the height of the Eiffel Tower as it stood in the 1890s. It is often called a copy, but the resemblance is mostly in the lattice ironwork and the spirit. The real difference is at the bottom. The Eiffel Tower stands on four open legs. Blackpool's legs rise out of a building packed with shows. Visitors have always gone to the Tower for what is beneath it as much as for the view from the top.
The ballroom that made Blackpool dance
The Tower Ballroom is the room most people picture when they think of the Tower. Frank Matcham, the theatre architect behind many of Britain's grandest playhouses, redesigned it in 1899. It has gilded plasterwork, a painted ceiling and a sprung dance floor, and its balconies look down on the dancers. The soundtrack was the Wurlitzer organ, installed in 1929. Reginald Dixon was its resident organist from 1930 to 1970, and his playing made the Tower sound like Blackpool to millions of holidaymakers. His signature tune was "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside". A fire in 1956 badly damaged the ballroom, but it was rebuilt. Television viewers know it today from ballroom dancing broadcasts, and its glamour still draws visitors who have never danced a step.
The circus ring that turns into a lake
Tower Circus opened with the building in 1894 and has run for generations. Its party trick is the finale, when the ring sinks and fills with water for a splashy spectacle. The clown Charlie Cairoli became one of its best-loved faces, performing there for decades in the postwar years. For many families a trip to the Tower meant watching him as much as going up to the top.
A tower that was nearly lost to rust
Seaside air is hard on iron, and in its early decades the Tower suffered badly from corrosion. In the 1920s the steelwork was replaced piece by piece, which means the Tower you see today is in effect a rebuilt version of the 1894 original. The myth is that it has always been the same old iron frame. The reality is that it has been renewed and repainted again and again to survive the Fylde coast weather. That upkeep helped earn it Grade I listed status in 1973.
What to look for when you visit
Start outside, where the lattice legs rise from the red-brick building. Then go inside and look up at the ballroom ceiling, which is better than any photograph. At the top, the Tower Eye gives views along the coast and out to sea. In clear weather you can see across to Wales and the Lake District. A glass floor panel lets you look straight down at the promenade. Come in autumn if you can. During the Illuminations the Tower becomes part of the light show, glowing above the lights along the seafront.
Notable people
- John Bickerstaffe
- Maxwell and Tuke
- Frank Matcham
- Reginald Dixon
- Charlie Cairoli
- Gustave Eiffel