One of the most magnificent skyscrapers in Australia can be found in Melbourne.
In this post, you’ll discover the ultimate list of facts about the Eureka Tower!
1. The tower is located right in the heart of Melbourne
The Eureka Tower is a skyscraper in Melbourne, a city in the state of Victoria in the southeast of the country. It’s the second-biggest city in Australia in terms of population after Sydney with a total population of over 5 million inhabitants.
The skyscraper is located in the Southbank neighborhood of the city, situated just 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) to the south of the central business district.
The Yarra River flows just to the north of the tower and the Royal Botanic Gardens can be found just to the east of it. A bit further across the river, we can find the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one of the biggest stadiums in the world.
2. The Eureka Tower is the third-tallest skyscraper in Australia
The tower stands exactly 297.3 meters (975 feet) tall and has a total of 91 floors (and just 1 underground). This means that at the moment (December 2020), it’s the third-tallest building in Australia!
Only the Q1 Tower (322.5 meters / 1,058 feet) in Gold Coast and Australia 108 (316.7 meters / 1,039.0 feet) in Melbourne are currently taller.
3. It took over 4 years to build the skyscraper
The owner of the building is the Eureka Tower Pty Ltd, a company formed as a joint venture between 3 parties, Daniel Grollo, investor Tab Fried, and Nonda Katsalidis.
The total cost of construction? $415 million USD!
One of the most remarkable facts about the Eureka Tower is that 2 of the 3 parties involved in the company had a direct stake in its construction. Daniel Grollo’s company “Grocon” built the tower and Nonda Katsalidis was one of the architects of “Fender Katsalidis Architects” who designed it.
The construction of the tower began in August 2002 and it was officially opened on October 11, 2006.
Additional fun fact: Fun fact: The building has the same architect as the PNB 118 in Kuala Lumpur!
4. The building used to hold an amazing record upon completion
The Eureka Tower is mainly a residential skyscraper, even though there are some entertainment facilities present as well.
When measured to the top floor, the tower was the tallest residential skyscraper in the world! It was only surpassed 3 years later by the Ocean Heights tower in 2009, and the HHHR Tower in 2010, both located in Dubai
The trend of building extremely high residential skyscrapers has pushed it down the list quite a bit. In December 2020, it’s the 22nd-tallest residential skyscraper in the world.
Especially in New York City, a lot of tall residential buildings have been constructed, including the tallest of them all, the Central Park Tower which has a height of 472 meters (1,549 feet).
5. Only one building in Melbourne is taller at the moment
The skyscraper was the tallest building in Melbourne for 13 years between 2006 and 2019. Only one building remains taller in the city which is called “Australia 108.” This building has 100 floors and an architectural height of 316.7 meters (1,039.0 feet). Its top floor is located at a height of 312.4 meters (1,024.9 feet).
Remarkably, this skyscraper, which was only topped out in November of 2019 and completed in 2020, is also located in the Southbank neighborhood of Melbourne, pretty close to the Eureka Tower!
6. It was named after an important event in the 19th century
So why is it called the Eureka Tower? Even though it’s a great name for the skyscraper, it was named after an important event that happened in 1854 called the “Eureka Stockade.”
This event happened because gold miners in a city called Ballarat in Victoria revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. They wanted more gold for themselves during the Victoria Goldrush without the interference of those pesky colonialists.
The stockade refers to a structure built by the miners before the “Battle of the Eureka Stockade” took place on December 3, 1854, which resulted in at least 27 casualties, most of them being rebels.
7. The building’s design features elements referring to this event
If you look closely at some of the design features, then you can find some elements that refer to the bloody battle that happened halfway through the 19th century.
One of those is the gold crown, a reference to the Victoria Goldrush which set the Eureka Rebellion in motion. The other is a red stripe which refers to the blood spilled during the battle.
8. The crane on top of the tower went down the elevator
The tower was constructed using reinforced concrete and a particular construction method was used referred to as the “slipform method.” This method is often used to build tall structures and consists of continuously pouring concrete into a form that keeps on moving upward.
In order to make this happen, a massive crane has to move upward as well, resulting in the building topping out with a huge crane decorating its top floor.
Obviously, this crane needs to be brought down again, and in the case of the Eureka Tower, they used a special method to achieve this. First, they disassembled the largest crane using a smaller crane. Then this smaller crane was disassembled by an even smaller crane.
Finally, the smallest crane was disassembled and brought down through the service elevator inside the building.
9. The building features a staggering number of apartments
The skyscraper is equipped with 13 elevators that travel up and down at a speed of 9 meters per second (30 feet per second). That’s a better idea than taking the 3,680 stairs, don’t you think?
The residential tower is inhabited by a lot of people as well. One of the most amazing facts about the Eureka Tower is that it features a grand total of 556 apartments!
10. The top floors are decorated with gold plated glass windows
Do you want to live in the Eureka Tower? You can, but most probably not on floors 82 to 87!
These floors only consist of 1 apartment and are decorated with 24 carats (99.9%) gold plated glass windows. Upon completion, these floors were for sale, completely unfurnished, for $7 million AUD!
Not sure how much they would go for today…
11. It features the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere
The top floor of the Eureka Tower is called “Eureka 89 Dining & Events” and offers an entertainment facility. This includes a restaurant, a cocktail bar, and a venue for events at a height of 292.3 meters (959 feet).
The most popular attraction in the tower is the observation deck and is located a floor lower at a height of 285 meters (935 feet).
This means that the tower features both the highest restaurant and the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere!
12. The Skydeck 88 offers stunning views of Melbourne
The observation deck is referred to as the “Skydeck 88” and offers absolutely astounding views of Melbourne. A fascinating feature is the “viewfinders” which allow visitors to locate the 30 most important landmarks in Melbourne.
One of the most fascinating facts about the Eureka Tower is that the observation deck also features an attraction referred to as “The Edge.” This glass cube is able to extend up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) out of the building.
As it moves out, the glass visitors stand on is colored. The glass only becomes transparent once the cube is fully extended, offering people inside a shocking experience of being able to look nearly 300 meters (980 feet) straight down to the ground!
