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(Seattle) HistoryLink.org Essay 1424 : Printer-Friendly Format
The Space Needle, a modernistic totem of the Seattle World's
Fair, was conceived by Eddie Carlson (1911-1990) as a doodle in
1959 and given form by architects John Graham Jr. (1908-1991),
Victor Steinbrueck (1911-1985), and John Ridley. When King
County declined to fund the project, five private investors,
Bagley Wright (1924-2011), Ned Skinner (1920-1988), Norton Clapp
(1906-1995), John Graham Jr., and Howard S. Wright, took over
and built the 605-foot tower in less than a year. The Needle
opened shortly before the Century 21 Exposition on March 24,
1962. Owners added a second restaurant-reception room at the
100-foot level in 1982. It was designated as an official
historic landmark on April 19, 1999. The concept for the Space
Needle was born in Stuttgart, Germany, when in 1959 Seattle
World’s Fair Commission chair Edward E. “Eddie” Carlson dined in
a restaurant atop that city’s bro