The Tower of the Four Winds was a 120-foot tall whimsical kinetic structure icon located at the 1964 New York World's Fair near the original attraction of It's a Small World. It was designed by WED Imagineer Rolly Crump, known now for his pivotal role in the early years of Disneyland. The Tower of the Four Winds was not as famous as some of Walt Disney's other iconic attractions before 1964. It eventually got worldwide attention at the 1964 New York World's Fair and became successful. After the fair, instead of being shipped to Disneyland, the tower was demolished and scrapped. The tower was replaced with a different facade also designed by Rolly Crump, inspired by Mary Blair's styling.
Background[]
Development[]
Rolly Crump with a model of the Tower of the Four Winds
Walt Disney wanted a compelling visual marquee for the now renamed It's a Small World, primarily because he felt the show building was "plain and lifeless". He knew that an exterior marquee would be essential in attracting audiences at the attraction, which would be competing with the Fair's architectural wonders. Walt remembered an exhibition of distinctive mobiles presented at the Studio library, the work of Imagineer Rolly Crump. The display of kinetic sculpture, the creation of one man, featured mobiles built inside bottles and snifters from such unusual materials as toothpicks, ornate match boxes, bright tissue paper, small driftwood, and other bits and pieces.
Walt came to Rolly Crump and said, "Rolly, I want to do this big tower out in front of the assignment because I had remembered my interest in kinetic sculpture." The models did the trick and Walt approved Rolly’s creation. Once it was finished, it was subcontracted to an engineering firm called Taggart and Cass. With because they were concerned about the wind loads in New York, they over-engineered it. Pipes that were six inches in diameter became nine inches in diameter. The center column that was nine inches in diameter, became two feet in diameter. The tower lost the delicay that Rolly had in the original design. They had a short time-frame to engineer it, build it, and ship it to New York.
After the Tower of the Four Winds was built, Walt and Rolly went to inspect it before it was shipped to New York. Rolly was surprised by the final product; the pipes he designed for support were much larger than he planned because they needed to make sure it would hold up under the wind. If the supports were much thinner, then under strong winds, the tower could be at risk of damage or collapse. Rolly hated the tower, but the engineering design stuck on and the tower was shipped to New York to be installed.
Global installations[]
1964 New York World's Fair[]
The Tower was also an area for Disney characters to come out and greet guests at the attraction.
The tower was disassembled and shipped to the 1964 New York World's Fair and then reassembled in front of the attraction. When the fair opened on April 22, 1964, it proved to be very successful at the Fair and many people remembered it, as it was tall enough to be seen throughout the fairgrounds. A 1964 Disney press release describes the tower, "Attached to three primary columns and four slender buttresses will be more than 100 spinning, swiveling, oscillating elements of as many colors and shapes. Propellers of every description and size, a miniature, purely decorative carousel with animals from several countries (a giraffe, camel, reindeer, llama, horse, elephant, ostrich, and donkey), a stylized representation of the sun; figures of birds, flying fish, winged dragon, butterflies, bees and other creatures–all will be in perpetual motion." The tower became a fair landmark and introduced the phrase, "Meet me under the Tower of the Four Winds." which was advertised along with the ride in Walt Disney's The Wonderful World of Color episode, "Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair". Disney costumed characters would also come out and greet the visitors at the attraction.
For the 1965 season, the gold supports were repainted white; the rest of the tower mostly remained otherwise unchanged.
Aftermath[]
Mary Blair and Walt Disney proposing the new facade.
Disneyland[]
After the World’s Fair ended in 1965, along with the Carousel of Progress (Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was duplicated at Disneyland and opened in 1965), It's a Small World was packed up and shipped to Disneyland where it reopened on May 28,1966. The Tower of the Four Winds was also planned to return, but was too expensive and massive to move without the necessary funding and did not make the trip to Disneyland. The tower was torn down unceremoniously and either sold as scrap metal or dumped into Flushing Bay. The Tower of the Four Winds was instead replaced by a large, flat facade with stylized cutout turrets, towers and minarets which are vaguely reminiscent of world landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The new facade was again designed by Rolly Crump, who was inspired by Mary Blair's styling, which remains to this day.
Notes[]
- The current entrance sign of the Disneyland ride is heavily based off the Tower of the Four Winds, replacing the "boat" sign that was present in the early to mid 2010s.
