Blackpool Tower Blackpool Tower Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, it is tall and is the 120th tallest freestanding tower in the world. Blackpool Tower is also the common name for Tower buildings, an entertainment complex in a red-brick three-storey block comprising the tower, the ground floor aquarium and cafeteria, Tower Circus, the Tower Ballroom and roof gardens that was designated a Grade I listed building in 1973. The Blackpool Tower Company was founded by London-based Standard Contract & Debenture Corporation
Gustave Eiffel designed by Charles Garnier, later among the most prominent critics of the Tower. The dome, with a diameter of , was the largest in the world when built and used an ingenious bearing device: rather than running on wheels or rollers, it was supported by a ring-shaped hollow girder floating in a circular trough containing a solution of magnesium chloride in water. This had been patented by Eiffel in 1881. The design of the Eiffel Tower was originated by Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who had discussed ideas for a centrepiece for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. In May 1884 Koechlin,