IN PHOTOS | A rare guided tour of the CN Tower’s off-limit areas

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The CN Tower is getting ready to give the public rare access to areas of the engineering marvel that are normally closed.

Later this month the 553-metre-tall landmark is participating for the first time in Doors Open Toronto, where members of the public get rare access to the city’s architecturally significant buildings and sites.

On Wednesday, members of the media got a preview of the guided tour of the tower, which explores operational and architectural spaces of Canada’s tallest structure that have never before been open to visitors.

CBC News photographer Evan Mitsui was there to check it out.

Members of the media record cellphone videos of the 300-metre shaft running nearly the full height of the tower’s inner pedestal:

Two cellphones recording view of a shaft running nearly the full height of the CN Tower.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Looking down the 300-metre hollow interior of the tower through a hatch in the floor of a stairwell outside the public area of the observation deck:

A hatch in the ceiling of a basement room of the CN Tower.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

A hatch in the wall of a stairwell inside the tower provides a glimpse inside the rarely seen inner workings of the landmark:

An opened hatch with a red plate that reads: microwave 1343' 10".

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

During the tour, CN Tower staffer Shawn Whalen points out panels from the original glass floor, now stored in a basement chamber:

A man pointing at glass panels in a basement chamber, with reflections of several other people in them.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

A cutout schematic of the CN Tower sits next to a core sample of the tower itself in a basement chamber of the attraction:

A cutout schematic of the CN Tower, next to a canvas bag on a wooden core sample of the tower itself.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Linen-keeper Irmina Victor, who has worked at the CN Tower for 16 years, answers a call in her office.

A woman standing in a room with clothing on racks.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Members of the public brave the glass floor of the CN Tower’s lower observation level, more than 340 metres above the ground:

Several people on the glass floor of the CN Tower, with screen that shows the tower and blossoming cherry trees.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

A hand in front of a glass floor of the CN Tower.

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

A pressurized door separates an access gantry from the bubble-shaped radome, a weatherproof enclosure that encircles the tower’s observation deck to shield broadcast equipment, including the CBC’s: