CN Tower dethroned by Dubai building

Last Updated: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 | 10:13 PM ET

CBC News

The CN Tower's time has come. It is no longer the world's tallest building.

The CN Tower is no longer the world's tallest building or free-standing structure.
(CBC)

For years, Torontonians have known that the tower's claim to fame was at risk, as planned towers around the world threatened to break its 30-year-old record.

Finally on Wednesday, a structure under construction in the Arabian Desert succeeded in passing the Toronto tower's 553.33-metre height.

Burj Dubai — a glitzy hotel, residential and commercial building being built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for a price tag of $4.1 billion US — will be more than 150 stories tall when it reaches its final height of 800 metres.

CN Tower officials said little about the record-breaking structure.

"When the time comes and the building is complete, we will congratulate the Burj Dubai project on their unique achievement," officials wrote in an e-mail.

On the streets of Toronto, residents mourned the end of an era.

"We had a lot of pride when we did it," said Paul Mitchell, a steelworker who secured the antenna atop the tower on its completion in 1976. "It was a lot of fun."

But he added that he was surprised the tower held its record for 30 years. "That was quite a feat."

In other cities across the country, though, people dismissed the blow to Toronto's ego with a laugh.

"I guess they'll have to get a big box of Kleenex and get used to it," one Winnipegger said.

Guinness World Records has recognized the CN Tower as the world's tallest free-standing structure and the world's tallest building.

The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, however, disputes the latter claim. They argue a "building" must be designed for residential, business or manufacturing use, and say the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were the world's previous tallest.

Burj Dubai surpassed the Kuala Lumpur towers' height in late July.