Reunion Tower

리유니언 타워

Reunion Tower is an observation tower in downtown Dallas, Texas, standing 171 metres (561 feet) tall. A round, lattice-covered globe sits on top of its slim shaft, which is why locals call it "The Ball". At night the globe glows with lights and is one of the easiest shapes to pick out on the Dallas skyline.

See it on the 3D globe →

At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Dallas, USA
Built: 1978
Height: 171 m
Type: Tower

Quick answers

Where is Reunion Tower?

Reunion Tower is in Dallas, USA, United States.

When was Reunion Tower built?

Reunion Tower was built in 1978.

How tall is Reunion Tower?

Reunion Tower is about 171 m tall.

Dallas's observation tower, topped by a geodesic lattice ball studded with LED lights.

The tower was finished in 1978 alongside the Hyatt Regency hotel as part of a project to bring new life to the area around the historic Union Station. The architecture firm Welton Becket & Associates designed it. Its name comes from La Réunion, a nineteenth-century community that once existed nearby.

History

Construction was completed on 2 February 1978, and the tower opened to the public on 15 April of that year. Marketing consultants first suggested the name "Esplanade", but the developer preferred Reunion after studying the old La Réunion colony. The restaurant level closed for a big renovation in 2007 and reopened in 2009, and the observation deck reopened in October 2013, just in time for the tower's 35th birthday.

The glowing ball

For years the globe was lit by ordinary bulbs. In 2011 they were replaced by 259 programmable LED fixtures, which debuted in a New Year's Eve light show welcoming 2012. Each fixture works like one pixel on a screen: by mixing red, green and blue light, the system can paint moving colours across the sphere for holidays, sports wins and city events. A newer upgrade in 2026 raised the number of light points to 8,547.

Fun facts

Locals nickname it "The Ball" because of the lattice globe on top.
Each of the 259 LED fixtures installed in 2011 acts like a single pixel, so the whole globe is a giant round screen.
The developer rejected the first suggested name, "Esplanade", in favour of Reunion.