The Howard Wright Construction Company broke ground at the Space Needle site on April 17, 1961. The result of a design collaboration among businessman Edward E. Carlson, architect John Graham and University of Washington architecture professor Victor Steinbrueck, the Space Needle was built for the 1962 Century 21 Exposition (World’s Fair) in Seattle. With the addition of the final torch tower, the construction of the 600 foot Space Needle was completed on December 8. 1961. Seattle’s Pacific Car and Foundry Company was the subcontractor for the steel fabrication and erection.

This photograph depicts men working atop the lacework of reinforcing steel placed in the Space Needle foundation before the concrete pour. 250 tons of steel and over 5,600 tons of concrete created a foundation so massive that despite the size of the tower, the center of gravity of the Space Needle is below ground level.

Caption information source: Space Needle USA by Harold Mansfield and George Gulacsik, 1962 .