(History's Great Structures) Adam Woog - The Eiffel Tower (2013, ReferencePoint Press)
(History's Great Structures) Adam Woog - The Eiffel Tower (2013, ReferencePoint Press)
(History's Great Structures) Adam Woog - The Eiffel Tower (2013, ReferencePoint Press)
San Diego, CA
®
1880 1887
Eiffel begins work on one of his most Ground is broken
important projects, designing and building for construction of
the framework for the Statue of Liberty. the Eiffel Tower.
1879
1888
Eiffel buys out his
partner and renames the The basic structure
firm Compagnie des up to the second
établissements Eiffel. platform is finished.
1868
Eiffel and a partner form the
engineering firm Eiffel et Cie, which
specializes in large iron structures.
1889
The tower is officially completed on March 31
and opens to the public on May 6.
6
1930
The tower loses the title of world’s tallest
structure when the Chrysler Building is
completed in New York City.
2012
A major restoration project,
focusing primarily on the first
level of the tower, begins.
2002
The tower receives its 200
millionth guest.
1957
1898 The first permanent
Eiffel sends the radio antenna is
first successful radio added to the top
transmission from of the tower.
the tower.
1940
German soldiers occupying Paris during
World War II climb to the top of the
tower and briefly raise a Nazi flag.
7
INTRODUCTION
8
but they had not been able to figure out the means to do so. Eiffel, the
Frenchman, . . . had solved the mystery, and being thoroughly Gallic
[French], he intended to build with elegance and artistry.”2
A Bold Idea
When Eiffel’s proposal was put before the fair’s organizers, nothing
even remotely like it had ever been built. At 1,023.6 feet (312 m), it
would be nearly twice as high as the tallest structure in the world at
the time—the Washington Monument, which was 555 feet (169 m)
tall. After it was built, the Eiffel Tower continued to hold that record
for more than forty years—until 1930, when the Chrysler Building in
New York City surpassed it by a fraction at 1,046 feet (319 m). Radio
and television antennas atop the Eiffel Tower have since brought its
full height to its current 1,069 feet (325 m).
The man behind this daring proposal was already one of France’s
preeminent engineers when he submitted his plan to the organizers of
the world’s fair. His reputation had been built on designing and build-
ing large iron structures, notably bridges, in innovative and economical
ways. Even though the tower would bear his name, Eiffel had little to
do with the details of its design. That task fell to three senior members
of his company, who did the actual design work and the calculations
that would make the tower’s construction possible.
Nonetheless, Eiffel was always the linchpin of the project. He
oversaw the initial designs for the giant structure. His flair for pre-
sentation and marketing his projects ensured that he won the compe-
tition to build the fair’s signature structure.
He worked tirelessly to convince the public
that his tower would be awe inspiring. And Words in Context
he directed its construction with precision entrepreneur
A person who
and skill. In short, Eiffel was a brilliant busi-
creates independent
nessman and entrepreneur, and it is fitting businesses, often taking
that the tower bears his name. Museum cu- on the financial risks
rator and writer Henri Loyrette comments, by him- or herself.
“Although it is true that Gustave Eiffel had
9
The Eiffel Tower, a symbol
of French cultural and
technological achievements
in the late 1800s, held center
stage at the Exposition
Universelle, the 1889 Paris
world’s fair. The tower was
originally intended as a
temporary structure, to be
dismantled after twenty
years.
no hand in the design of the . . . tower, only he could have carried out
such a venture.”3
He and his colleagues had the help of hundreds of people—
engineers, draftsmen, ironworkers, and other laborers—who, after
years of painstaking work, together made his dream come true. The
result of this combination of artistic vision and practical work is a
structure that, from today’s perspective, seems impossible to imagine
as existing in any other form. That is, it seems to many to be com-
plete on its own, needing nothing else to make it better. Writer Bill
Bryson comments, “In its finished state, the
Eiffel Tower seems so singular and whole,
Words in Context
so couldn’t-be-otherwise, that we have to fretwork
remind ourselves that it is an immensely A design based on an
complex assemblage, a fretwork of eighteen open arrangement
thousand intricately fitted parts, which of horizontal and
vertical bars or lines.
come together only because of an immense
amount of the very cleverest thought.”4
Public Reaction
The tower design sparked controversy before, during, and after its
construction. Its supporters marveled at its extraordinary shape
and height. Édouard Lockroy, the fair’s commissioner, called it “A
monument unique in the world [and] one of the most interesting cu-
riosities of the capital.”5 Others were much less enthusiastic. Many
people saw it as a flagrant waste of money and an ugly eyesore. Eiffel
always brushed aside such criticisms, insisting that the tower would
be both practical and beautiful.
In the decades since the Eiffel Tower’s completion, many build-
ings have surpassed it in terms of height. Some of them, such as
New York City’s Empire State Building, are just as famous and
just as cherished. The current record holder, the Burj Khalifa in the
United Arab Emirates, dwarfs the Eiffel Tower, soaring an aston-
ishing 2,716 feet (828 m) in the air. Still, few of these buildings
11
Famous Buildings: A Comparison of Heights
12
CHAPTER ONE
The Background
13
Political Tension
As 1889 approached, the French government wanted to do some-
thing special to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of
the French Revolution. Authorities also wanted a way to defuse the
tense political climate that had been building in France since the
1870s. That turmoil stemmed primarily from the Franco-Prussian
War of 1870–1871, which pitted France against the Kingdom of
Prussia (now part of Germany). This conflict, rooted in years of ani-
mosity between the two nations, led to widespread food shortages
and a brutal bombardment of Paris. The war ended in victory for
Prussia and, as part of the spoils of war, the winning nation was able
to form a government in France that was sympathetic to its own
royal leader, Emperor Wilhelm I.
The dominance of monarchist Prussia over France naturally out-
raged those French citizens committed to maintaining their nation
as free and democratic. A group of French radicals in the capital city
formed a rebel alliance called the Paris Commune. The issue of Paris
operating as an independent entity was especially important to the
Communards, as these radicals were called. The Commune’s armed
members managed to briefly take over and occupy Paris from mid-
March until late May 1871, when French soldiers loyal to the Prussian-
controlled government defeated them in bloody battle.
“Reconciliation, Rehabilitation,
and Imperial Supremacy”
However, the dramatic standoff between the Communards and the
government did not resolve itself in the 1870s or 1880s. The tense sit-
uation was made worse by dissension among various factions on both
sides, coupled with a serious economic depression. By the early 1880s
the Third Republic, as the current French government was known,
was in serious danger of collapse.
In 1884, as a way of easing the political tension, French prime
minister Jules Ferry proposed a major world’s fair. It would take place
in 1889, on the anniversary of the Revolution—specifically the an-
14
Visitors enjoy a day at the Exposition Universelle, which had its roots in the
cataclysmic events of the French Revolution one hundred years earlier. As depicted in a
painting by the French impressionist Jean Béraud, the Eiffel Tower could be seen from
all locations at the fair.
15
To this end Ferry proposed a motto that would embrace all of the
goals of the exposition: Reconciliation, Rehabilitation, and Imperial
Supremacy. (Ferry used the word imperial here in the sense of “majes-
tic” or “grand,” not “royal.”) Scholar Ly Y. Bui sums up these aspects
of the fair’s goals by stating, “The exposition would portray the Third
Republic in a prestigious light, restoring pride and confidence in the
flagging government. It would boost the economy, bolster the metal
industry with the erection of immense pavilions, and create new job
opportunities for workers.”7
The Fair
The French government approved the idea for a fair, which was to
be called the Exposition Universelle de 1889, and together with the
organizers began the enormous amount of planning that needed to
be done to make it a reality. The fair would be held in several loca-
tions, but its heart was the Champ de Mars. This was an open space
in the central part of Paris, covering nearly 0.4 square miles (1 sq
km). The Champ de Mars stretched (as it still does) from the banks
of the Seine, the large river that cuts through central Paris, to the
city’s famed École Militaire (Military School). This stretch of land
was to be the site of a number of massive buildings housing a wide
variety of exhibits.
Many of these exhibits would reflect the fair’s official overall
theme of science and technology, which were vitally important is-
sues for the times. The second half of the nineteenth century was a
period that built on the innovations of the Industrial Revolution,
when machines and factories began to dominate the old methods of
manufacturing products by hand. A new age was dawning as indus-
try became an integral part of urban life, and science and technology
were crucial to advancing this explosion of industry. Although the
emphasis would naturally be on French achievements in these fields,
the exposition’s organizers invited many other nations to build pavil-
ions showing off their own scientific successes and significant aspects
of their own cultures.
16
All of the pavilions were essentially complete in time for the fair’s
grand opening on May 6, 1889. It was a moment that had been ea-
gerly anticipated by the exposition’s organizers as well as most of the
public. In a speech at the opening ceremony French president Nicolas
Sadi Carnot summarized the event’s overall themes. He stated,
Uniting a Nation
In addition to celebrating the anniversary of the French Revolution
and a new age of science and technology, there was another reason for
proposing that Paris host a world’s fair in 1889: politics.
France’s government at the time, known as the Third Repub-
lic, had been born after the French emperor Napoléon III was over-
thrown in 1870. (This Napoléon was the nephew of the more famous
Napoléon Bonaparte.) The new government was deeply conservative,
and its power rested in politicians who were open to the possibility of
restoring an emperor. This group was fiercely opposed by a large con-
tingent that sought to bring back the reforms and ideals of the French
Revolution: democracy, freedom, and equality. Gradually this more
liberal faction, the Republicans, gained power and by the early 1880s
dominated French politics. They succeeded in creating a number of
governmental reforms, such as the establishment of free education.
But the ideals of the Third Republic’s early days remained strong
among many French citizens. They remained deeply committed to
conservative traditions, such as supporting France’s military and main-
taining its close ties to Catholicism. The conflict between this faction
and the reform-minded Republicans grew so strong that by the early
1880s the entire French government seemed on the brink of breaking
down. Defusing this tense situation became a major factor behind the
government’s proposal for a massive world’s fair, in the hope that the
project would unite the nation in a single, shared goal.
17
of attracting to her the chosen of the peoples. She has the right
to be proud of herself and to celebrate with head erect the eco-
nomic centenary, as also the political centenary, of 1889.8
A Great Success
From the outset, the fair was a great success. More than 32 mil-
lion visitors from all over the world, but especially from Europe, the
United States, and Asia, attended. They were treated to an array of
exotic pavilions, restaurants, theaters, and exhibit halls. Some of the
pavilions and exhibits were cultural or scientific in nature, while oth-
ers stressed the commercial products of the participating nations. A
small railway, about 2 miles (3.2 km) in length, provided transporta-
tion for visitors who did not want to stroll through the entire grounds.
Many of the exhibition halls were cultural pavilions. France cre-
ated many of these exhibits, including a hall that displayed the Im-
perial Diamond, a priceless jewel that had been discovered in South
Africa in 1884—only a few years before the fair opened. Other pavil-
ions were sponsored by nations that were eager to educate the French
public about their own traditions of dress, housing, music, dance, and
other topics. Participants included Japan, Persia (now Iran), Turkey,
Egypt, Russia, Greece, and many Latin American nations.
Some nations boycotted the exposition, not wanting to be as-
sociated with an event that commemorated the French Revolution.
Notably, the German government chose not to participate because
of continued ill feelings dating from the days of the Franco-Prussian
War and its aftermath. However, the German government did allow
some German manufacturers to display their products to take advan-
tage of the commercial benefits of worldwide exposure.
These pavilions also hosted a variety of performances, includ-
ing dance recitals and new music by prominent composers. The most
popular event—every performance was sold out, and it was the talk of
all Paris—was the Wild West Show organized by the famous Ameri-
can buffalo hunter, soldier, and entrepreneur Buffalo Bill Cody. This
18
spectacular display featured demonstrations of cattle roping and mock
battles between cowboys and Native Americans. The extravaganza
featured two hundred horses and twenty buffalo, as well as a perfor-
mance by the show’s star: the legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
The fair’s overall theme of new technology dominated many of its
attractions and displays. Prominent among these exhibits were sev-
eral cutting-edge innovations from the famous American inventor
Thomas Edison. One of the most impressive of these was the prac-
tical application of a startling new invention, the electric lightbulb.
Electric lighting was shown off in its own exhibit, and it was also used
to light up the exposition’s acreage at night in a dazzling display.
Another of Edison’s inventions—the phonograph—was the
star exhibit in another massive display of new technology housed
in the Galerie des Machines (Machinery Hall). This iron and glass
structure was, at the time, the longest single-span building in the
world. Its main exhibition hall was 1,270 feet (387 m) long and 460
feet (140 m) wide, which made it the largest unobstructed floor area
of any building in history to that point. The hall was so big that even
the largest exhibits in it, such as locomotives, seemed small. Huge
“moving sidewalks” transported visitors above the exhibition hall
so they could gaze down on the wonders below. Years later, a man
who was thirteen years old when he visited the hall recalled, “I re-
member very clearly the hallucinatory [ride] above whirlpools of
. . . creakings, whistles, sirens, and black caverns containing circles,
pyramids, and cubes.”9
19
competition for its construction, which was specified to reach a pro-
posed height of 984 feet (300 m). The competition received more than
one hundred designs, some of which were outlandish or would be
clearly impossible to build. For example, one submission proposed a
900-foot model (274.3 m) of a guillotine. Another idea was for a huge
lighthouse that would light up all of Paris. Still another was for a gar-
20
gantuan sprinkler system designed to douse fires or relieve drought in
the neighborhoods surrounding the Champ de Mars.
A commission assembled by the fair’s organizers was given
the responsibility of examining the various proposals, and by June
1886 announced that every plan but one was either impractical, in-
sufficiently worked out, or simply bizarre. A winner was then an-
nounced: Gustave Eiffel, who proposed a tower in the shape of a
giant pylon, composed of four legs that tapered to the top, forming a
kind of elongated pyramid. The first public
mention of this design was in the newspaper
Words in Context
Le Figaro in late October 1884, which noted
pylon
that Eiffel’s planned tower was shaping up A vertical pillar
to be the most extraordinary aspect of the used to support large
future fair. structures such as
bridges.
21
A “Slightly Strange Pleasure”
Before the tower was built, Eiffel frequently lectured and spoke pub-
licly about possible practical uses for it. But, as writer Bill Bryson
points out, the motivation behind Eiffel’s endeavor likely had little or
nothing to do with practicality.
The Eiffel Tower wasn’t just the largest thing that anyone
had ever proposed to build, it was the largest completely
useless thing. . . . Eiffel gamely insisted that his tower would
have many practical uses—that it would make a terrific mil-
itary lookout and that one could do useful aeronautical and
meteorological experiments from its upper reaches—but
eventually even he admitted that mostly he wished to build
it simply for the slightly strange pleasure of making some-
thing really quite enormous.
His original plan, to join the staff of his uncle’s vinegar factory in
Dijon, was canceled after a family quarrel and financial troubles at the
factory. Instead, young Eiffel found work as the personal secretary to
a railway engineer and followed this job with a stint as an engineer
for a railway company. In time he rose to the position of head of the
company’s research department. Bill Bryson notes that Eiffel excelled
at the work: “He was, to put it mildly, very good at it. He built bridges
and viaducts across impossible defiles [narrow valleys], railway con-
courses of stunning expansiveness, and other grand and challenging
structures that continue to impress and inspire.”10
Eiffel’s experience during this period in designing and building
railway bridges set him on his future path. He rose quickly through
the ranks and became the company’s chief engineer. Eiffel relished
every aspect of the work, from the mathematics and physics needed
to imagine and design a project to solving the technical problems of
construction. And he liked to be present during the construction
22
phase, regularly visiting the job sites, where he could work directly
with the construction supervisors and workers.
Early Successes
Eager to make a name for himself, Eiffel decided to strike off on
his own in 1868. He partnered with another engineer, Théophile
Seyrig, to form the firm Eiffel et Cie (Eiffel and Company). The
firm specialized in the design and construction of large-scale iron
bridges and buildings. Eiffel established his office and work-
shop in Levallois-Perret, a suburb of Paris, and the new company
quickly found success. In time the firm added offices or represen-
tatives in such far-flung locations as China, Argentina, Russia,
and Italy.
Among the company’s early projects was the design of key ele-
ments in the large exhibition hall for the 1878 Exposition Univer-
selle in Paris (which preceded the 1889 fair that would make Eiffel
famous). Eiffel et Cie also completed such innovative projects as
building an all-metal church building, which was shipped in pieces
to Arica, Chile, and assembled on-site. Other important projects
for Eiffel et Cie during this period included the Maria Pia Bridge
in Portugal, which was at the time the longest single-arch span in
the world. This massive project demonstrated Eiffel’s ability to cre-
ate elegant and simple designs with relatively inexpensive materials
and new construction techniques, and to complete projects within
limited budgets and time frames.
Still another notable project during this time was an innovative rail-
way terminal in the Hungarian city of Pest (now part of Budapest). Eif-
fel used techniques that were then highly unusual and that would later
become key elements in his famous tower. Notably, he chose not to hide
the building’s metal framework—that is,
the guts of the terminal—behind the usual
decorative facade. Eiffel later noted about
Words in Context
facade
the project that it combined artistic elegance Exterior siding on a
with practicality, since the building’s decora- building.
tive features were also its structural elements.
23
But perhaps Eiffel’s major accomplishment during this middle
part of his career was the Garabit Viaduct, a 1,854-foot bridge (565
m) crossing a river in the mountains of the rugged Massif Central
region in south-central France. In the opinion of some experts, this
was an accomplishment to rival his more famous tower. Architect and
writer Bertrand Lemoine comments that the Garabit Viaduct “still
stands as a masterpiece in Eiffel’s career.”11
In 1879, by now solidly established as the leading engineer in the
field of iron structures, Eiffel bought out his business partner and
became the sole owner of his company, renaming it the Compagnie
des établissements Eiffel. This new firm’s accomplishments included
a method for building prefabricated bridge
kits, ranging in size from footbridges to
Words in Context railway bridges. Their most notable ad-
prefabricated
vantage was that these kits could easily be
Manufactured and
ready for assembly. transported in pieces to remote locations
and assembled on the spot.
24
Eiffel’s firm began work on the immensely complex Statue of Lib-
erty project in 1880. As with Bartholdi’s exterior, Eiffel’s skeleton for
the statue was built and partially assembled in France, then shipped
to the statue’s permanent home for its formal unveiling on July 4,
1884. Eiffel’s role in this endeavor proved to be one of the crowning
achievements in his career, although this role still remains largely un-
known to the public. But he would soon begin work on an even more
powerful and enduring symbol of a great nation, one that, as Bryson
points out, took his ideas to an extreme and made him a household
word: “In his next big project he made sure no one would fail to ap-
preciate his role in its construction, by creating something that was
nothing but skeleton.”13 That “something,” of course, was the tower
that still bears Eiffel’s name.
25
CHAPTER TWO
The Design
A fter Eiffel won the competition to design and build the exposi-
tion’s tower, he spent many months negotiating the details with
Paris city officials. The negotiations were a lengthy and often frustrat-
ing process, in part because so many governmental organizations had
to give the project their approval. The process dragged on so long that
Eiffel almost abandoned the project. At one point he noted in a letter
to the fair authorities, “I would be very sorry to renounce the con-
struction of what most agree will be one of the Exposition’s principal
attractions.”14
Eventually the two sides came to an agreement, and a contract was
signed in January 1887. The project’s budget was set at 8 million francs
(roughly $58 million in today’s US dollars). The Parisian government
granted Eiffel 1.5 million francs toward his construction costs, which
was less than a quarter of the estimated total. Eiffel offered to cover a
substantial amount of the remaining cost and raise the rest from inves-
tors. In return, Parisian authorities agreed to give him the profits from
admission sales for twenty years—the amount of time the tower was
scheduled to remain standing. The contract further stated that Eiffel
would donate 10 percent of these profits to the poor of Paris. (There is
no evidence that this last stipulation was ever fulfilled.)
26
posed tower had been created long before Eiffel even submitted his
plans to the exposition’s committee. This was because Eiffel’s winning
entry was not the first time his firm had proposed building a giant
tower. He had submitted a similar but less elegant design to an earlier
world’s fair, the Exposición Universal (Universal Exposition) of 1888
in Barcelona, Spain.
But that city’s authorities had rejected the idea: It was too strange,
too expensive, and too much out of context with the city’s overall de-
sign. Undaunted, Eiffel did not abandon the idea. Instead, he had his
first design reworked and submitted it again for the fair in Paris. The
idea was essentially the same: to build a structure that stressed sim-
plicity and practicality but with added touches that made it far more
elegant than the Barcelona proposal.
In many ways, both the failed Barcelona project and the Eiffel
Tower were essentially refinements of work that the engineer had
done often in the past. He had already perfected many aspects of the
tower’s design—in some ways, the new project simply turned Eiffel’s
previous work on its side. In other words, the tower used many of the
same principles of bridge building—it simply moved the construction
toward the sky instead of across a valley or river. Architectural histo-
rian Barry Bergdoll comments, “The overscaled pylon was in fact a
logical extension of the research into structure and fabrication that
had made possible the firm’s most successful projects of the previous
decade, most famously the monumental railroad viaduct at Garabit
in the Massif Central.”15
27
early plans he and Nougier developed were essentially the same as
what was finally built. Henri Loyrette comments, “It was in fact as
early as 1884 that Nouguier and Koechlin . . . had come up with the
idea of ‘a very high tower;’ on June 6 of the same year, Koechlin drew
a sketch of the construction they had thought up, ‘a great pylon con-
sisting of four . . . girders standing apart at
the base and coming together at the top-
Words in Context joined to one another by metal trusses at
girder regular intervals.’”16
A horizontal beam
The shape Koechlin proposed thus
used to support a large
structure. looked something like an elongated pyra-
mid. Its four gently curving girders (the
vertical legs) would be held up with truss-
es (frameworks that strengthen and support the girders) placed at
regular intervals. The legs would support three platforms above
street level. Two of these levels were to be public viewing platforms.
The first level would be 187 feet (57 m) from the ground and
roughly 45,200 square feet (4,200 sq m) in area. This left plenty of
space for such amenities as a restaurant, a bar, a 250-seat theater, and
a viewing promenade 8.5 feet (2.6 m) wide that would provide visitors
with a spectacular view. The second level would be 377.2 feet (115 m)
high and have an area of some 15,000 square feet (1,400 sq m) with
room for more restaurants and viewing spots. The third level was not
originally planned to be open to the public, although many years later
a small observation deck was added to it, and it was available to the
public. This third level was to be 905.5 feet (276 m) off the ground and
would house a small apartment and workshop for Eiffel. In time, af-
ter it was completed, the apartment was lavishly decorated with such
elegant touches as oil paintings, a piano, and velvet-fringed couches.
28
tions. But he was not satisfied with the concept for the overall look
of the tower. The original plan was stark and unadorned—little more
than a dull assemblage of girders. It would have appeared a little like
the sort of tower that today is used for supporting electrical cables
across long distances.
Eiffel saw the design as practical, but it did not impress him as
beautiful or pleasing to the eye. So Eiffel commissioned a respected
Work begins at the base of one of the tower’s four legs. The design called for a structure
that resembled an elongated pyramid, with four gently curving legs, or girders, held in
place by supporting trusses.
Parisian architect, Stephen Sauvestre, to join the team and make im-
provements. Sauvestre’s contributions included horizontal, curved
grillwork arches, more artistically pleasing pedestals, a bulb-shaped
design for the top, and various improvements to the public viewing
areas and restaurants, such as a glass pavil-
ion on the first level.
Words in Context
All of Sauvestre’s additions were purely
truss
A supporting structure decorative, not structural—that is, they were
or framework usually not necessary to the tower’s strength or safe-
fabricated from metal ty. However, they did make the tower more
or timber and most
beautiful, and—perhaps just as important—
often used for large
spans and heavy loads, they also made it appear sturdier. This, Eiffel
especially bridges and knew, would be a key element in reassuring
roofs. the exposition’s committee and, later, the
public about its safety.
30
struction. So the most famous structure built in the nineteenth
century, one that was meant to symbolize cutting-edge technol-
ogy, was made of a material that was about to be superseded by
something better. Bill Bryson comments, “Never in history has a
structure been more technologically advanced [but] materially ob-
solescent.”17
Forgotten
Once Sauvestre had made his additions, Eiffel approved the de-
sign and instructed his employees to move forward. This involved
Koechlin and Nougier taking out several design patents, which were
described in the patent application as being “for a new configura-
tion allowing the construction of metal supports and pylons capable
31
of exceeding a height of 300 metres.”18 However, Eiffel—who was
never one to share credit—saw the financial advantage in holding the
licenses that were awarded for these innovations, so he bought out
Koechlin’s and Nougier’s shares in the patents. Eiffel promised to in-
clude the two engineers’ names every time the project or the patents
were mentioned, a promise that was not kept.
As a result, the two engineers and the architect have been largely
forgotten in the years since. It appears that Koechlin and Nougier, at
least, were not seriously resentful of this obscurity. Both remained in
the company’s employ for many more years. Koechlin became Eiffel
et Cie’s managing director when Eiffel retired, while Nougier stayed
with the firm until his retirement in 1893. Sauvestre, who specialized
in houses, did not formally join the company, but as an architect he
went on to design many notable structures that can still be seen in
Paris and elsewhere.
A Savvy Leader
These three men clearly made major contributions to the project,
but they were not the ones who made it a reality. Most historians
agree that credit for that achievement goes to Eiffel. His ability to
take the lead on the project displayed a genius for organization and
a knack for finding the people best suited to bringing the idea to life.
Bertrand Lemoine comments, “Ambitious, energetic, and decisive,
he possessed all the skills of a fully-trained engineer combined with
originality, a realistic approach to deadlines, and an understanding
of public relations, and the capacity to attract and retain the best col-
laborators.”19
In his role as leader on the project Eiffel also displayed a pen-
chant for taking the credit—after all, the tower carries his name,
while the others are largely unknown to the public. Eiffel under-
stood the importance of publicity. He had displayed a version of
his company’s tower design long before the Paris competition, and
after his design was chosen for the exposition, Eiffel continued to
32
lecture about it, introducing the details of the project to the public
and to engineering and governmental organizations. In these lec-
tures Eiffel outlined the formidable technical challenges that the
project faced, as well as the tower’s role as a symbol of the emerging
industrial and technological age. Typical of his comments was the
statement that his creation would stand for “not only the art of the
modern engineer, but also the century of Industry and Science in
which we are living and for which the way was prepared by the great
scientific movements of the end of the eighteenth century and by
the Revolution of 1789, to which this monument will be built as an
expression of France’s gratitude.”20
Technical Challenges
Eiffel’s comments about the technical challenges reflect his realis-
tic view of the project. Nothing like this tower had ever been built
before on such a grand scale, and the project’s countless problems
required equally countless innovative solutions. Some were small,
some huge—and, of course, all of them had to be resolved many
decades before computers could help calculate and catalog the vast
amount of data that was required to solve problems and store in-
formation.
One prominent example of the problems Eiffel faced was the ab-
solute necessity of maintaining accuracy where each separate piece of
the tower met. The design and manufacture
of each of these parts had to be precise. For
example, a tiny mistake in calculation could Words in Context
have thrown off the angle of a leg’s incline rivet
as it was built. Even a small deviation in this A headed metal pin
used to connect two
angle would have affected the stability of the pieces of iron together.
tower, forcing Eiffel to pull the entire struc-
ture down before rebuilding. Every pair of
rivet holes had to be designed to match up with such precise accuracy
that they would not be more than 0.04 inches (1 mm) apart when it
was time for them to be joined together.
33
Wind and Weather
Severe weather conditions, always a concern on large construction
projects, presented additional challenges for Eiffel’s team because of
the tower’s great height. Eiffel had years of experience in building and
bridge construction, so he understood how strong winds could dam-
age a badly designed structure. In his autobiography, written later in
his life, Eiffel writes, “During the course of my career as an engineer
and on account of the exceptional scale of the construction work that
filled it, wind was always an absorbing subject for me. It was an enemy
against which I had to anticipate a constant battle, either during the
building or afterwards.”21
The plan for the tower had Eiffel’s complete confidence. He felt
certain it would fulfill his goals of beauty and sturdiness. In an inter-
view in the Parisian newspaper Le Temps in 1887, Eiffel states, “Now
to what phenomenon did I give primary concern in designing the
Tower? It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of
the monument’s four outer edges, which is as mathematical calcula-
tion dictated it should be . . . will give a great impression of strength
and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of
the design as a whole.”22
To avoid wind damage, Eiffel and his engineers had designed
the tower as a latticed, open-air structure with minimal obstacles, so
that even the strongest gusts could pass right through it. Their cal-
culations of wind resistance were so accurate that the tower swayed
(and still sways) only a negligible amount in even the strongest wind.
Architecture professor Annette Fierro writes, “Eiffel’s calculations
eventually proved highly accurate; during either strong winds or high
temperatures, the top of the tower deflects [moves] less than ten cen-
timeters.”23
Wind was not the only climatic challenge. Eiffel’s design also had
to take into account heat and cold. Once again Eiffel’s construction
experience had prepared him for the challenge. For example, Eiffel
knew that on hot days the iron tower would slightly expand and cold
temperatures would cause the tower to slightly contract. Knowing
34
this, Eiffel’s team designed the tower to withstand even the most ex-
treme weather. The team calculated the amount of expansion so pre-
cisely that even in the hottest weather the tip of the tower moves no
more than about 6 inches (15 cm).
A related challenge concerned protecting the tower’s exposed iron
from rain and snow. Unlike steel, which was yet to be perfected as a
material for construction, iron rusts unless treated with a strong coat
of paint. This required a system of scaffolding that would allow work-
ers to reach all of the tower’s exposed areas—which in this case meant
the entire structure—for repainting jobs. The process of repainting
the tower, which has to be done approximately every seven years, is
To prevent wind damage to their tall tower, Eiffel and his engineers settled on a
latticed, open-air design that would allow gusts to pass right through the structure.
Their vision can clearly be seen in this close-up view of the intricate mass of ironwork
during one phase of construction.
Lessons from a Giant Chocolate Easter Bunny
The most famous structure Eiffel worked on before he built his tower
was the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. His interior structural
design cleverly allowed the statue’s very thin copper skin to withstand
a variety of stresses. Writer Bill Bryson notes,
dangerous but necessary. Eiffel notes, “We will most likely never real-
ize the full importance of painting the Tower, that it is the essential
element in the conservation of metal works and the more meticulous
the paint job, the longer the Tower shall endure.”24
36
what he rightly viewed as his magnum opus, marring the uncluttered
simplicity of the tower’s elegant profile.”25
Once the elevator location was decided, the challenge was to
design elevators that could accommodate the expected crowds.
Along with the one spiral staircase, the elevators needed to accom-
modate a large number of visitors—from two thousand to twenty-
five hundred people every hour. Some writers and architectural
historians suggest that perfecting the elevators was the single most
difficult challenge in designing and building the structure. This was
because, at the time, no elevator was capable of moving safely up
and down a structure as high as the Eiffel Tower. So a single eleva-
tor could take visitors from the ground level, where they entered
the structure, to the first level, which included a promenade, public
viewing areas, a theater, and restaurants. But that same elevator
did not have enough power to reach the second level, which of-
fered additional public viewing areas and restaurants. The solution
came from Léon Edoux, a prominent French inventor (and one of
Eiffel’s former classmates in engineering school). Edoux devised an
ingenious plan.
Edoux’s design involved two connected elevators in each of the
tower’s four legs. In each leg one elevator rose from the ground
to the first level, and another elevator took visitors from the first
level to the second level. Each elevator car
in a set weighed some 10 tons (9 metric
tons) and could carry up to sixty-five pas- Words in Context
sengers at a time. The cars would not have counterbalance
separate counterbalances to raise and A weight that allows
an object such as an
lower them, as was usual for elevators at elevator to rise and
the time. Instead, Edoux’s elevators were fall.
joined together by ropes so they counter-
balanced each other. When in use, eleva-
tor A would be on the ground and elevator B at the second observa-
tion level. A powerful ram pushed elevator A from the ground to
the first level. Since the cars were joined, elevator B dropped from
the second level to the first. When they met at the middle (the first
37
level), passengers moved from one to the other. Then elevator A
went back down, pulling elevator B back up to the second level.
This arrangement was clever, but somewhat inconvenient for pas-
sengers. They could not go all the way up in one car. Instead, they
would have to walk from one elevator to the other at the first floor
along a narrow gangway. This gangway offered a virtually unobstruct-
ed view of Paris, but even with sturdy safety rails the experience was
not for the fainthearted.
Thousands of Drawings,
Countless Calculations
All of this preparatory work required staggering amounts of hand-
made drawings and calculations. Forty or so designers and “calcula-
tors” (the people who did the necessary math) were assigned to the
project. In fact, more time was needed to design the tower—rough-
ly two years—than it took to build it. During this period of intense
work, Eiffel’s design office created some 1,700 general drawings for
the skeleton alone, not counting the public viewing platforms and
other areas, plus 3,629 more detailed drawings. These drawings,
which required countless meticulous mathematical calculations,
itemized each of the more than 18,038 different parts the tower
needed.
Once this painstaking design process was complete, Eiffel and his
colleagues embarked on the next stage: making their bold design a
reality.
38
CHAPTER THREE
The Construction
T he forging of the iron pieces that would form virtually every part
of the tower took place at Eiffel’s factory in the Parisian suburb
of Levallois-Perret. As was generally true for the project as a whole,
the construction of the tower moved at a swift but organized pace.
Eiffel’s knack for detail and preparation made the short time frame
of the construction—just over two years—manageable.
For the 150 or so employees in the Levallois-Perret factory, the
bulk of the work consisted of precisely casting each of the thousands
of iron pieces and drilling the holes for the rivets that would hold
them together. Most of these individual pieces of iron were then
bolted together at the factory into segments of various sizes that
could be transported more easily for final assembly at the build-
ing site. Each of these individual sections was held together with
temporary bolts that were strong enough to keep them together for
the journey to the Champ de Mars, but the bolts were by no means
strong enough for use in the permanent structure. More permanent
rivets would replace them during the building process.
The process Eiffel devised for this portion of the project served
a purpose besides just efficiency. It also guaranteed that the tower
would be easy to take down, and thus reassured those Parisians who
were already beginning to object to the gigantic structure. Annette
Fierro writes, “This system not only accommodated a compressed
construction schedule, . . . it was also ideal for the likely prospect of
its dismantling.”26
39
At the Site
As each of the sections was completed at Eiffel’s factory, horse-drawn
wooden wagons carried them from there to the Champ de Mars site,
a distance of some 3 miles (4.8 km). A formal groundbreaking cer-
emony was held on January 23, 1887, and the preliminary work be-
gan. This involved digging out tons of dirt to sink the four gigantic
concrete and stone foundations that would support the tower’s legs.
Each of the foundations was sunk to a depth of about 53 feet
(16.2 m). These foundations rested on top of thick beds of gravel.
Unlike compacted dirt, the gravel beds were slightly flexible, which
would allow the tower’s legs to be adjusted slightly and to later with-
stand tiny changes as they heated and cooled with the weather.
The work of sinking and stabilizing the east and south foun-
dations was relatively straightforward. The job required digging a
trench, building wooden walls to keep it from collapsing, laying the
gravel, and pouring the concrete. However, the west and north seg-
ments required much more complex engineering and construction
than the first two. The extra care in the west and north corners was
necessary because these legs were situated closer to the Seine River,
where the ground was less solid.
Specifically, additional support was needed to secure the two
foundations that were closest to the river. They required extra rein-
forcements driven deep into the riverbed to keep their foundation
slabs from sliding or sinking in the softer ground. Then, once these
reinforcements were built and all four of the tower’s concrete foun-
dations were complete, Eiffel’s workers moved on to the next phase.
They installed limestone blocks on top of each of the foundations.
The top surfaces of these limestone blocks were shaped so that they
formed “shoes” into which the “feet” of the tower’s legs would later fit,
held in place by gigantic bolts.
40
Workers prepare to lay gravel and pour concrete into deep trenches that are held open
by wooden walls. Once completed, the structures will form the foundations for the
tower’s legs.
could begin. All of the sections from the factory were on-site and
ready to go, as were a surprisingly small number of workers, consid-
ering the scale of the project and its tight deadline. Only 150 to 300
laborers were on-site at any given moment, all wearing the traditional
blue work clothes and heavy wooden clogs of French construction
workers.
For these laborers, assembling the huge iron pieces was like put-
ting together a gargantuan, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Each
section had already been carefully marked, catalogued, and tracked so
41
Covering Costs
The contract that Eiffel signed with the organizers of the exposition
included lengthy sections guaranteeing that aspects of the construc-
tion would not interfere unnecessarily with the surrounding area.
For example, the contract stipulated that Eiffel was responsible for
the costs of moving trees, bushes, or other plantings to make way for
the tower, and that only gardeners employed by the city could do the
work. Eiffel also promised to arrange for repairs, at his expense, if any
surrounding buildings were damaged during construction. And city
authorities also stipulated that the project would not disrupt the hy-
drants, sewer drains, water pipes, and other elements in the city’s wa-
ter supply system.
42
universal praise, gave all observers the impression that the tower
was constructing itself. . . . It was a smooth, well-oiled operation
where human participation seemed limited, almost nonexistent.”28
43
“A Colossal Spider’s Web”
Much of the construction relied on the skilled ironworkers who at-
tached each piece to its “mates.” After a girder section had been
brought up, the workers removed the temporary bolts that had been
holding the pieces together, put the pieces
into place, and replaced the temporary
Words in Context bolts with permanent iron rivets (about 2.5
scaffolds million of them in all). The laborers then
Temporary frameworks pounded each girder into position, using
that support laborers
working on certain
hydraulic jacks that could exert some 881.8
structures. tons (800 metric tons) of force.
Twenty teams of four men each per-
formed this grueling work. One heated the
rivet over a portable furnace. The heat made it malleable and ready to
be hammered into the exact shape needed. Another held the rivet in
place as it was slotted into its spot. A third shaped the ends of the rivet
into their correct forms while they were still hot. And a fourth beat the
rivet with a sledgehammer, pounding it permanently into place. Each
rivet was deliberately made a little too long, so that as it cooled from
its super-heated condition its length contracted slightly and assured a
tight fit.
Not surprisingly, huge crowds of Parisians and others watched the
construction work with fascination, marveling as it grew higher and
higher. In the spring of 1888 a reporter for the British Evening Tele-
graph newspaper wrote, “M. Eiffel’s Tower of Babel is rising steadily,
and the enormous mass of iron which the constructors have already
piled up against the clouds is the amazement of everybody. When you
stand at the base of the gigantic monument and look up into the skies
through a colossal spider’s web of red metal the whole thing strikes
you as being one of the most daring attempts since Biblical days.”29
Labor Issues
The riveting work and other jobs were difficult and dangerous and re-
quired long hours of heavy labor. A typical workday lasted 12 hours in
44
The Eiffel Tower gradually rises to its final height in this series of photographs taken at
various stages of construction between 1888 and 1889. Crowds often gathered at the
construction site to witness the tower’s steady ascent.
45
summer, 10 to 11 hours in autumn and spring, and 9 hours in winter.
Toward the end of the construction period, as the deadline drew near,
workers were putting in 13-hour days.
In addition to putting up with these long days, workers fre-
quently had to endure strong winds, freezing cold, or summertime
heat. When the project had started in January 1887 Parisians were
ice-skating on lakes in the city’s parks. The
summertime was especially hot during
Words in Context the construction period, with numerous
hydraulic jacks threatening thunderstorms.
Equipment for Eiffel paid his employees well for this
applying great force, hard work. But sometime in the winter
using pressurized
liquid such as oil. of 1888 or spring of 1889 a large group of
skilled workers demanded higher wages
and threatened to strike if Eiffel did not
agree to their demands. A strike would have seriously affected an
already tight schedule. So Eiffel agreed to their demands, and the
threatened walkout never occured.
Eiffel also took care of his employees in other ways. For example,
once the first level was complete, he built a canteen there to feed the
workers. Meals were not free, but they cost about half of what nearby
cafés charged. This solved several issues at once. The laborers did not
need to worry about bringing their own meals and would not need to
leave the worksite. It also lessened the chance of a slip because work-
ers did not need to scale the building down and up again just for a
meal. Furthermore, it was simply more efficient: No time was wasted
getting to ground level and back. (This being France, the workers had
to have wine with their meals. However, Eiffel insisted that they drink
only a small amount before returning to work.)
Eiffel could be both generous and stern. After he reached an
agreement with the leaders of the threatened strike he fired any-
one who was not present by midday of the next day. Once work
resumed he humiliated the strike leaders by assigning them jobs
only on the lower levels instead of more prestigious work on the
higher levels.
46
Working Underwater
Because two of the tower’s legs were close to the Seine River, some
of the work on the foundation had to be done underwater. This work
was done using caissons. Caissons are specialized chambers used to
create structures, such as supports for bridges, that need to be built
underwater. A caisson is essentially a huge concrete compartment.
It is designed so that as it descends into the water it fills with water
and sinks instead of floating. When the caisson has sunk completely,
the water inside the chamber is pumped out, and compressed air is
pumped in. This pressurizes the chamber and allows workers to de-
scend into it. The workers climb in and out of the caisson through
sets of airlocks in the ceiling, which is kept above water. Caissons are
still commonly used in underwater construction projects.
Safety
As with any large-scale construction project, many hazards existed
at the tower site. The risk of falling from the tower’s great height was
ever present; a single slip of the foot could be disastrous. In one sense
Eiffel’s attitude toward this danger was simply logical. He pointed
out, half seriously, that workers high on the tower should not be paid
more than others—there was really no greater danger from working
at higher levels, he said, since a fall of 40 feet (12 m) could kill a man
as easily as a fall of 400 (122 m).
On a more serious note, Eiffel was always extremely concerned
with the safety of his workers. The many precautions he took in-
cluded building guardrails and screens to stop falls. These safety
measures were so thorough that only two men died during the
project—and one was not on the job at the time. Hoping to im-
press his girlfriend, he had climbed onto the partially completed
structure but lost his footing and fell to his death. Another worker
later died of gangrene from a wound he suffered while on-site. Ei-
ffel made sure that the families of these men were well compen-
sated for their losses.
47
“Reaping Lightning Bolts in the Clouds”
The construction work continued to move quickly; except for a few
details, by the end of March 1888 the tower was finished up to the
first level. Less than three months later, in June 1888, the basic struc-
ture as far as the second level was complete. The tower was now 420
feet (128 m) above the ground and already closing in on what was
then the world’s highest structure: the 555-foot Washington Monu-
ment (169 m).
The following month, on July 14, 1888, France celebrated Bastille
Day, the nation’s biggest holiday. Parisian authorities used the tower’s
second level as a stage for a massive fireworks display. The evening
of July 14 saw a burst of exploding lights of many brilliant hues and
shapes surrounding and above the rising tower.
After this grand celebration, the next weeks were spent putting
the finishing touches on the second level, and it was complete by mid-
August 1888. At this point, as had been true all through the project, the
construction site remained one of hectic but highly organized labor. At
the beginning of 1889 journalist Émile Goudeau described a visit:
A thick cloud of tar and coal smoke seized the throat, and we
were deafened by the din of metal screaming beneath the ham-
mer. Over there they were still working on the bolts: workmen
with their iron bludgeons, perched on a ledge just a few centi-
metres wide, took turns at striking the [rivets]. One could have
taken them for blacksmiths contentedly beating out a rhythm
on an anvil in some village forge, except that these smiths were
not striking up and down vertically, but horizontally, and as
with each blow came a shower of sparks, these black figures, ap-
pearing larger than life against the background of the open sky,
looked as if they were reaping lightning bolts in the clouds.30
Nearly Finished
As the deadline drew near, the construction workers stepped up
their pace. March 31, 1889, marked the completion of the main
48
structure. However, the finishing touches required a great deal
more work.
One of the most important of these final tasks involved the eleva-
tors. Because nothing like them had been built before, getting the el-
evators in working order proved to be a major challenge. Two compa-
nies had been hired to build them. A French firm, Roux, Combaluzier
and Lepape, had the contract for the east and west elevators, and an
American company, Otis Elevator, was responsible for the elevators
on the north and south legs. Teams from both firms worked fever-
ishly to find solutions to nagging problems that prevented the eleva-
tors from working properly.
The French newspaper Le Figaro had planned to publish special
editions from an office and printing press in the tower. Unable to reach
the second floor by elevator, the paper’s staff
had to make the exhausting climb up the
narrow spiral stairs every day. One of the Words in Context
newspapermen wryly commented in print, canteen
A mess hall or
“We have put together this number under
cafeteria for workers.
rather special conditions; in a shack that
barely covers our heads, amid carpenters,
gas workers, blacksmiths, and painters, dizzy from the unaccustomed
air, dust, and noise and tired by the climb up . . . because the tower’s
elevators are not working yet.”31
Despite the incomplete work on the elevators, Eiffel decided the
time had come to celebrate the tower’s completion. On April 1, 1889,
he hosted the first of several celebratory gatherings. This included a
huge party with champagne and a picnic for all the workers and their
families, and another party for the engineers and designers. Eiffel also
led a parade of government officials and members of the press to the
top of the tower. Because the elevators were not yet functional, the
group had to climb the stairs. The ascent to the first level alone took
over an hour thanks to the frequent stops Eiffel made along the way
to proudly point out various features of his masterpiece.
That afternoon Eiffel further celebrated his triumph by personally
raising an enormous flag—a tricolore, the national flag of France—at
49
the top of the tower. As the flag fluttered in the wind, a twenty-five-
gun salute boomed from the first level to publicly proclaim the tow-
er’s completion. During the festivities one of Eiffel’s engineers gave a
stirring toast that sums up the tower’s importance: “We salute the flag
of 1789, which our fathers bore so proudly, which won so many victo-
The tower’s narrow spiral staircases could only accommodate crowds walking up or
down in single-file lines. As if to illustrate this fact, Gustave Eiffel (left) and a friend
pose for a photograph on one of the tower’s staircases.
50
ries, and which witnessed so much progress in science and humanity.
We have tried to raise an adequate monument in honor of the great
date of 1789, wherefore the tower’s colossal proportions.”32
Eiffel and his team had a right to be ecstatic: They had achieved
something that had never been done before and that many people
had regarded as impossible. Furthermore, Eiffel had done it in an
astonishingly short time, under budget and with a few serious ac-
cidents. Speaking about himself in the third person in his autobiog-
raphy, Eiffel writes, “This tower is Monsieur Eiffel’s magnum opus,
and is a symbol of strength and difficulties overcome.”33
51
CHAPTER FOUR
Public Reaction
52
of money. Both before and during construction, a sizable and vocal
segment of the French population had objected to Eiffel’s vision.
Barry Bergdoll writes, “Even as the tower pushed toward the clouds,
a chorus of opposing voices rose in protest, attacking it as a meaning-
less gesture, devoid of function and too reminiscent of an industrial
smokestack.”35
Parisians had mixed views of Eiffel’s grand design. Some enthusiastically awaited its
completion while others viewed it as an eyesore or, worse, a safety hazard. Rumors
swirled of the possibility that the enormous tower could sink into the Seine River
(pictured).
53
Some of the concerns were farfetched; for example, that the tower
would sink into the waters of the Seine or would act as a giant magnet
capable of drawing nails from surrounding buildings. Some people
also worried that the tower could act as a lightning rod, with the po-
tential to attract flashes of intense electricity and cause widespread
fires. And others speculated that people would simply tire of the
tower’s novelty. In April 1888 a New York Times reporter commented,
“The public may go up to its summit occasionally, but having once
gazed [from it] said public will go where it can find things more in-
teresting.”36
Dire Prophecies
But some of the public’s objections stemmed from real and legitimate
concerns about safety. Even when it was still a proposal, countless
people warned that Eiffel’s design was unstable and predicted that the
tower, if it were ever built, would surely col-
lapse. These dire prophecies, which counted
Words in Context among their supporters many journal-
aesthetics ists and other public figures, inspired such
Artistic beauty.
newspaper headlines as “Eiffel Suicide!”
and “Gustave Eiffel has gone mad.”37
In addition to journalists and ordinary citizens, supposedly
knowledgeable professionals also warned that the tower could col-
lapse from its own weight. Bill Bryson notes, “A professor of math-
ematics filled reams of paper with calculations and concluded that
when the tower was two-thirds up, the legs would splay and the
whole would collapse in a thunderous fury, crushing the neighbor-
hood below.”38
Not surprisingly, fears about the tower’s safety were especially
strong among people who lived and worked adjacent to the Champ
de Mars. The neighborhoods around the tower site consisted of
low-rise houses, workshops, and small factories as well as large pri-
vate houses and blocks of expensive apartments. Despite the sig-
54
nificant social and economic differences of these various neighbor-
hoods, the residents and businesses were united in their objections
to the tower. Worries about their neighborhoods being turned into
a massive construction site led to a number of legal actions against
Eiffel. He was able to defuse these actions by promising to fully
compensate the owners of the buildings for any damage his tower
might cause.
55
A lightning bolt strikes the
top of the Eiffel Tower during
a violent thunderstorm. Early
on some Parisians feared
that the tower would act as a
lightning rod and spark fires.
56
document melodramatically warned of the terrible influence the
tower would have on some of Paris’s most famous monuments:
57
Because we are engineers, do people think that we do not care
about the beauty of our constructions and that as well as mak-
ing them strong and durable we do not to try to make them
elegant? . . . Why should what is admirable in Egypt become
hideous and ridiculous in Paris? I have thought about it and I
admit I do not understand. . . .
When you want to see Notre Dame, you go and stand on the
square in front of it. How could the tower, on the Champ
de Mars, bother someone standing on the square in front
of Notre Dame, where he cannot even see it? Besides, it is
one of the most mistaken notions, although widely held,
even by artists, that a tall edifice will crush the surrounding
buildings.42
58
Beating the Eiffel Tower
Many nations were upset that the French had succeeded in creating
the world’s tallest structure. Comments were especially spiteful in the
United States, where the Washington Monument, once the world’s
tallest structure, now ranked second behind the Eiffel Tower. Refer-
ring to the East River, which separates Manhattan from the rest of
New York, Harper’s Weekly magazine fumed, “Yes, fairly lofty; but lay
it flat, and it would not span the East River. As to height, well, take
an elevator in any building in New York, and if you want dizzy you
can have quite enough of that kind of thing.” American architects im-
mediately began to draw up a variety of plans to best the French, in-
cluding one in New York City that would feature a statue of an angel
with a trumpet, announcing to the world the superiority of American
industry and business sense.
There were also proposals to build a gigantic structure for the
World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (named for its honoree,
Christopher Columbus) in 1893. Eiffel submitted a proposal, which
was angrily rejected because he was not an American. Other ideas in-
cluded creating a 9,000-foot tower (2,743 m) that would have cables
strung from it capable of transporting people by “tobogganing” to and
from New York, Boston, and other cities. Another idea involved a
4,000-foot tower (1,219 m) that would essentially be an elevator on the
end of a giant bungee cord. The engineer who proposed it suggested
that the area beneath the elevator have 8 feet (2.43 m) of featherbed-
ding on it. These ideas were rejected in favor of another: the world’s
first Ferris wheel, which soared about 300 feet (91.4 m) over the fair.
Quoted in Jill Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower. New York: Viking, 2009, p. 136.
minds once they had begun the climb to the top. American writer
Edyth Kirkwood admitted that, although she otherwise loved her vis-
it, as she climbed the narrow stairs she thought unkind things about
Eiffel for not making his stairs wide enough for people to change
their minds.
59
In addition to the balky elevators, other problems occurred in the
first days after the tower opened. For example, a workman knocked
over a bucket of yellow paint, splattering a visitor. (The sightseer was
later reimbursed for the cost of his clothes.) More seriously, a metal
bolt crashed through the glass ceiling of the office of Le Figaro, pierc-
ing a seat that one of the newspaper’s staff had just vacated. One writ-
er for the newspaper commented that he wanted to remind Eiffel that
the tower’s public levels were meant to be public viewing platforms,
not battlefields.
Despite these and other problems, a proud Eiffel was the first to sign
the visitor guest book. On the first day he also hosted a party for family
and friends at one of the restaurants on the first level. He spent the rest
of that day watching all of the commotion taking place around and on
the tower. Eiffel was understandably delighted to see the huge crowds
that waited in line to experience ascending his tower, and by extension to
take part in an event that was thrillingly new, huge, and modern.
A Thrilling Adventure
Even after the excitement of the opening days subsided, the tower
proved to be a roaring success. Every day, long lines of tourists waited
patiently to buy tickets. Prices varied, de-
pending on which level a visitor wanted to
Words in Context get to, but they were generally affordable—
panorama and tickets were half-price on Sundays. The
Wide view.
cheapest tickets were for those who chose
to climb the stairs, not ride the elevators.
In all, 2 million people ventured up the tower during the fair—
from May 6 to October 31, 1889—and the lines did not abate even
after the exposition closed. Eiffel’s faith in his structure’s popularity
was clearly justified. A few weeks after the tower opened to the public,
a number of newspapers around the world reported that Paris was
ecstatic about the Eiffel Tower.
After waiting patiently in line for tickets, sightseers experi-
enced a thrilling adventure, beginning with the elevator ride. Tak-
60
The Eiffel Tower and Other Paris Landmarks
ing the elevator to the top floor put a visitor 187 feet (57 m) off the
ground. Few people at the time had ever been this high up. The
ride up proved to be remarkably smooth, and the public’s enthusi-
asm for the elevators seemed to be barely affected by the fact that
their mechanisms were deafeningly noisy. One reporter noted that
visitors were “completely suspended over the abyss. However there
is no feeling of danger. The great solid . . . machine ascends and
descends majestically, without the slightest shock or inequality in
its movements that could cause alarm, and the most timid of those
who ascend to the second platform do so with a feeling of perfect
security.”44
61
Whether they rose in the elevators or climbed the stairs, visi-
tors had astonishing views through the open girders, culminating
in the expansive panorama at the top. Adding to the experience was
the thrilling, stomach-clenching illusion that a person could fall
from a dizzying height at any moment. Although perception of this
danger was all too real for some people, Eiffel’s long-standing con-
cern for safety made the possibility of an accident highly unlikely.
He had carefully installed such features as handrails, guardrails,
and a series of nets to make sure visitors remained safe.
62
Avoiding the Tower at All Costs
According to legend, one member of the Committee of Three Hun-
dred, the novelist Guy de Maupassant, often ate lunch in one of
the tower’s restaurants. He claimed that he did so because it was
the only point in Paris from which he could not see the despised
structure.
This story is probably only that: a story. For one thing, as Eiffel
himself pointed out, the tower is not visible from most Paris streets.
Furthermore, zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings to
seven stories, so only a very few of the taller buildings have a clear view
of the tower. De Maupassant would have little cause for complaint on
those grounds.
Famous Guests
Members of the general public were by no means the only visitors
to the tower. Many celebrities also made the journey to the top of
the amazing new structure. One of these was the most famous inven-
tor and engineer in the world: Thomas Edison. Edison had admired
Eiffel’s project from the very beginning. At an exhibit of drawings
in Paris during the proposal stage of the tower, the renowned inven-
tor had noted in a guest book, “To M. Eiffel, the Engineer, the brave
builder of so gigantic and original a specimen of modern engineering
from one who has the greatest admiration for all Engineers including
the great Engineer le bon Dieu [the good God].”45
63
Edison was also a guest of honor when he visited the completed
tower in mid-August 1889. After traveling to the top he pronounced
both the structure and the view magnificent—a fitting monument to
the technical skill and artistic vision of its creator. Comparing France
to Great Britain, Edison (an American)
stated, “The Tower is a great idea. The glory
Words in Context of Eiffel is in the magnitude of the concep-
patisserie tion and the nerve in the execution. I like
Pastry shop, in French.
the French. They have big conceptions. The
English ought to take a leaf out of their
books. What Englishman would have had this idea? What English-
man could have conceived the Statue of Liberty?”46
The great inventor was not the tower’s only distinguished guest.
The Prince of Wales, who would become England’s King Edward
VII, took in the sights. So did the emperor of Germany, the shah of
Persia (now Iran), and a prince of Siam (now Thailand). In general,
it seemed as though all of Parisian society was also smitten with the
tower, and joining one’s friends there became the fashionable thing
to do. Using the French name for the structure, Tour Eiffel, Edyth
Kirkwood commented, “High and low, rich and poor, are, for once,
of one mind. Merriment, joy, feasting, succeed in a giddy whirl. . . .
‘Meet me under the Tour Eiffel!’ is the general cry for a rendezvous.”47
Even Guy de Maupassant, the writer who had been one of the
tower’s most vocal critics, felt obliged to visit. He had no choice,
de Maupassant complained, if he wanted to maintain a social life:
“Friends no longer dine at home or accept a dinner invitation at your
home. When invited, they accept only on condition that it is for a
banquet on the Eiffel Tower—they think it gayer that way. As if obey-
ing a general order, they invite you there every day of the week for
either lunch or dinner.”48
A Triumph
In almost every sense the structure was a success. The public loved it.
It was a huge technological, artistic, and financial success. And fears
64
about its safety proved groundless. The triumph was a particular vic-
tory for Eiffel, of course. He had remained true to his vision, orga-
nized an enormous team to make his vision a reality, and completed
the project in record time. Despite facing seemingly impossible odds,
Eiffel was enjoying a level of success that comes to few people.
The Exposition Universelle had proved to be a spectacular accom-
plishment. But the world’s fair was also a relatively short-lived event,
and its gates closed on October 31, 1889—less than six months after
they had opened. To mark this occasion a fireworks display from atop
the tower lit up the Parisian night sky. Eiffel had the good fortune to
stage this last show against an appropriately dramatic background:
a brilliantly clear night with a full moon. It was a good omen for a
structure that was slated to come down in only twenty years.
65
CHAPTER FIVE
The Eiffel
Tower Today
66
The Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognized landmarks in the world. According
to one recent poll, it is even more recognizable than the pyramids of Egypt or San
Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge (pictured).
67
Those who choose to make the trip on foot can judge the dis-
tance they have traveled by noting the regular signs that count off
the number of steps. This number has varied slightly over the years,
due to various renovations. Today, getting to the public areas on
foot means climbing 1,665 steps, including the few steps that take
visitors from the ground to the ticket booths at the base of the tow-
er, as well as those leading from the third level landing to an up-
per observation platform. (The first and second levels are also both
wheelchair accessible.) A popular option is to take the elevator up
and climb down.
Whether ascending in the elevators or on foot, visitors can do
much more than simply enjoy the thrilling panorama of Paris. A
small museum and other displays on all of the viewing levels pro-
vide glimpses into the tower’s history. Also, Eiffel’s private apart-
ment and lab on the top platform have been restored to their origi-
nal condition, with wax figures standing in for Eiffel and Edison.
Furthermore, visitors can mail letters directly from a post office in
the tower, and between December and February up to eighty peo-
ple at a time can even ice-skate on the first level—or simply watch
the skaters while sipping hot chocolate, coffee, or wine. The rink is
small but has proved to be very popular. In 2010 over one thousand
people per day strapped on a pair of skates there. (Admission to
the rink and skate rental are both included in the price of a ticket.)
Something else that visitors can take advantage of is a special ex-
hibit on the first level for children six to ten years old. It is designed
to teach them about the history, construction, and importance of
the tower.
Naturally, visitors can also eat and drink in the tower. Currently,
it has two restaurants: Le 58 Tour Eiffel, a casual bar-restaurant on
the first level, and Le Jules Verne, an expensive and elegant restaurant
on the second floor with its own private elevator. Visitors also can
buy informal snacks, such as sandwiches and soft drinks, or, to toast a
special occasion, glasses of Champagne. Or they can bring their own
food for a picnic.
68
A Huge Elevator
One of the major challenges for any tall construction project is the
problem of lifting dozens of workers and huge amounts of building
material up high. When Eiffel first built his tower, he solved the prob-
lem by using specially designed creeper elevators. These rose on tracks
that went up the insides of each leg of the tower, going higher as each
leg grew.
In 2012, the authorities responsible for maintaining the Eiffel
Tower faced a similar problem as they planned for a major renovation
project. Specifically, they wondered, what would be the best way to lift
staff and materials to the first level of the structure? These materials
were needed to complete extensive renovations of the restaurant and
other public spaces.
One part of the solution was to build a gigantic transport plat-
form—the construction industry’s term for huge, custom-built, open
elevators used for this purpose. A Finnish firm, Scanclimber, was
hired to build the world’s largest transport platform for the job. It
weighs about 2 tons (1.8 metric tons) and can rise to about 200 feet
(61 m) above the ground, just below the first floor. The area of the
platform is about 79 x 21 feet (24 x 6 m), and it can carry up to 9.9
tons (9 metric tons) of material and people at a time. When the work
is complete, the platform will be dismantled.
69
Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE). SETE oversees not
just maintenance but also all of the other jobs that are needed to
keep the structure open. SETE then gives the majority of the profits
from the tower back to the city.
Today some five hundred employees handle the tower’s opera-
tions. They work in its restaurants, keep the machinery in order
and make repairs to the structure, operate its elevators, provide se-
curity, direct crowds headed in and out, and more. Some employ-
ees belong to specialized crews, such as the group charged with
repainting the tower every seven years. Typically, a different color
70
is chosen each time the tower is repainted, with a public vote taken
to determine this choice. (Visitors can vote using kiosks located
near the tower’s ticket booths.) Not all of the tower’s surfaces re-
ceive exactly the same shade of paint, however, when a new coat is
added. Different shades of a specific col-
or are used, with the lightest at the top.
This creates the illusion for people on the Words in Context
ground that the tower is taller. gas lamp
Lighting using
Another specialized crew is responsible
natural gas.
for replacing, as needed, the approximately
twenty thousand lightbulbs used to illumi-
nate the tower at night. This array of bulbs produces a sparkling dis-
play every night, outlining the tower’s shape once every hour from
dusk until 1:00 a.m. Some three hundred spotlights arrayed around
the tower also dramatically light up the structure at night, and bea-
cons atop the tower, visible from up to 50 miles (80.5 km) away, sweep
the area. On occasion, extra lighting is installed to create light shows
and fireworks displays for special events.
71
Parisians enjoy an evening of ice skating almost 230 feet above street level on a small
rink located on the first level of the Eiffel Tower. Other attractions, besides the tower
itself, include a museum and restaurants.
Other changes made over the years have included restoring the
original facades of the first floor, which had been covered over early in
the twentieth century. The method of lighting up the tower has also
been improved. In particular, gas lamps that originally lit its outline
at night have now been replaced by some twenty thousand electric
lightbulbs.
More substantial changes include updates of the elevator systems.
For example, in 1965 a sharply increasing number of visitors prompted
the use of new procedures and equipment for the elevators in all four
legs. In the years since, the systems have been further upgraded with
computer-controlled procedures. (The original elevators had been run
by operators who sat in precarious cages be-
low the machines. Today, visitors can see the
Words in Context position of one of these operators, replaced
hemp by a mannequin.)
A kind of tough plant The original elevators were gradually
fiber.
scrapped, the last of them in 1982 after
nearly a century of service. Today, all of the
cars in use are relatively standard. The current elevators are capable of
carrying more than one hundred people per trip and making a dozen
round trips every hour. Workers have also installed emergency stair-
cases, adding to the originals. Other modifications include the use
of petroleum products to grease the elevators’ mechanisms, replacing
the original material: ox or pig fat mixed with hemp.
72
US million). The entire cost was covered by SETE. The work was
scheduled to last eighteen months (during which time the tower
was to remain open). This project marked the first major renova-
tion of the tower since 1986–1987. “We’re hoping to give ourselves
the tools we need to move into the next century,”49 Jean-Bernard
Bros, president of SETE, stated in October 2012.
In large part the renovations were needed because of the sharp
increase in the number of visitors. According to SETE, in 2011,
more people ascended the tower since the renovation of 1986–1987
than did so in the entire first century of its existence. By 2011, it was
increasingly clear that the tower’s public spaces were too cramped
and inefficiently organized to accommodate these ever-increasing
crowds.
The planned restoration included major makeovers of the first
level. For example, SETE planned to rebuild the reception and
conference rooms to make them more attractive as event spaces.
Plans also called for updating restrooms, shops, restaurants, and
other visitor services to make them more attractive, better able to
accommodate large crowds, and easier to maintain. Possibly the
biggest change was the addition of a huge glass floor in part of
the first level’s public space to allow visitors to see the city directly
below. This glass floor was to cover about 5,500 square feet (511
sq m).
Smaller renovations included a new look for the restaurants and
improved shelters from the weather for those who are waiting for el-
evators. And SETE planned to create new exhibits for the museum,
improve the educational film program, and expand other features of
the tower’s displays. Still another planned addition included a giant
mural of two hundred unpublished historical photos of the tower, for
display on the ground floor near the ticket booths.
In addition to updating the look and operation of the tower, the
renovation project was to add a number of environmentally friendly
new features. These included improved energy efficiency by convert-
ing to solar and wind energy for partially heating and lighting the
74
tower. Other improvements were to make the tower more readily ac-
cessible to people with disabilities.
75
authorities was one of tired acceptance. As one Parisian official com-
mented, “If [the Eiffel Tower] did not exist, one would probably not
contemplate building it there, or even perhaps anywhere else; but it
does exist.”50
76
and again in 1981, the installation of improved radio/television an-
tennas raised the tower’s overall height to its current height of 1,069
feet (325 m). The antennas on the tower today carry broadcasts for six
TV networks and dozens of radio stations.
More Danger
The prospect of dismantling the tower after twenty years was not the
only threat it has faced. The structure was nearly destroyed during
World War II (1939–1945). In 1940 the German Nazi army invaded
and occupied Paris. The leader of the Nazis, Adolf Hitler, recognized
that the tower was a powerful symbol of France’s independence. He
ordered it torn down, in part as a way to demoralize the nation and to
assert his control over Paris.
According to a 1941 article in the Australian newspaper Argus,
Hitler had other reasons to dismantle the tower. He wanted to de-
molish the structure because it had no artistic or historic value. His
idea was to use the iron as scrap material for the German war effort,
which was in great need of the metal to build weapons.
Obviously, this never happened. The exact reason is not clear.
One likely explanation is that the Germans lacked the equipment
they needed to dismantle the tower. However, there are also indica-
tions that the Nazi military governor in Paris never carried out Hit-
ler’s orders because he did not want to be known afterward as the man
who destroyed the Eiffel Tower. In any case, the structure became a
symbolic battleground.
Hitler was photographed in front of it as a show of power, but
otherwise the Germans were largely thwarted in their plans. French
resistance fighters cut the cables for the elevators, so that the Nazis
would be hampered in reaching the top. German soldiers were able to
climb it, however, and they briefly exchanged the French flag with one
displaying the swastika symbol of the Nazis. (The German flag was so
big that it blew away in the wind and was not replaced.) When Paris
was liberated near the end of the war, the French flag once again flew
proudly from the top of the tower.
77
The Eiffel Tower at night is a sight to behold. Recent renovation plans included the use
of solar and wind energy for some of the tower’s heat and lighting. Additional plans
called for a makeover of the first level, including the addition of a huge glass floor that
will allow visitors to see the city directly below.
In the 1960s the Eiffel Tower again faced a threat. At that time
secret negotiations between the French and Canadian governments
were taking place. (These talks were not revealed to the public un-
til the 1980s.) The idea was to temporarily move the Eiffel Tower
to Montreal, the main city in the Canadian province of Quebec,
as part of that city’s world’s fair, Expo 67. Reportedly, the plan was
canceled because the company that operated the tower was afraid
that it might not be possible to reassemble the tower in its original
location.
79
stilts to walk around marshy ground without getting wet and to
keep an eye on their flocks from a distance. A writer for the news-
paper office in the tower noted that the intrepid stilt-walker walked
around the public areas, to the great astonishment of everyone
present.
More recently, other risk-takers and attention-seekers have per-
formed a variety of other highly public stunts. Mountaineers have
climbed it. Skateboarders, rollerbladers, and bicyclists have ridden
down its stairs, or off ramps beginning at its lower level. Parachutists
and bungee jumpers have launched themselves from it, and trapeze
artists have performed high atop it. In 1989, to commemorate the
one hundredth anniversary of the tower, the famous French tightrope
walker Philippe Petit walked a wire that had been strung between the
Place du Trocadéro (Trocadéro Square) and the second level of the
tower, a distance of some 2,300 feet (700 m). Petit’s achievement and
most of the other stunts performed over the years have been success-
ful. Unfortunately, some have not. For example, a Norwegian para-
chutist who specialized in jumping from low heights died in 2005 af-
ter leaping from the second level and snagging his chute on the way
down.
The tower has also been the target of several hoaxes. For example,
in 2008 a number of media outlets, including such prestigious news-
papers as England’s Guardian and America’s New York Times, fell for
a hoax. The news outlets received a press release from the Parisian
architectural firm Serero Architects. Though the firm is real, the press
release was a phony. It claimed that Serero had won a bid to add a
number of temporary additions to the tower. Notable among these
was a modification of the top observation deck that would more than
double its size, in honor of the structure’s 120th birthday. The press
release states in part,
80
However, the small capacity of the existing . . . platform re-
sults in wait times of at least 35 minutes and as long as an hour
and 10 minutes. . . .
To improve this situation, the firm has proposed a temporary
third-level platform expansion that more than doubles the
visitors’ area. . . . Constructed of a lightweight carbon Kev-
lar material, steel connectors, and metal mesh in three sepa-
rate structural components, the expanded deck would allow
an estimated 1,700 visitors per hour to access the tower’s top
floor.52
81
himself once said, only half-jokingly, “I ought to be jealous of the
tower. It is much more famous than I am. People seem to think it is
my only work, whereas I have done other things after all.”54
Eiffel died on December 27, 1923, at the age of ninety-one. But
he lives on in the form of the structure that bears his name—one of
the great structures of the world.
82
SOURCE NOTES
83
19. Bertrand Lemoine, “Gustave Eiffel,” in The Great Builders, p. 141.
20. Quoted in Loyrette, Gustave Eiffel, p. 111.
21. Quoted in Loyrette, Gustave Eiffel, p. 206.
22. Quoted in Arras France Tourism Guide, “The Eiffel Tower in Par-
is.” http://arras-france.com.
23. Annette Fierro, The Glass State: The Technology of the Spectacle, Par-
is, 1981–1998. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002, p. 51.
24. Quoted in Artdaily, “Eiffel Tower, Symbol of France.”
25. Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower, p. 52.
84
41. Quoted in Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower, pp. 80–81.
42. Quoted in Jöelle Bolloch, “The Eiffel Tower,” Faculty of Exact
Sciences, Engineering, and Surveying, National University of
Rosario, Argentina. www.fceia.unr.edu.ar.
43. Bergdoll, introduction to The Eiffel Tower, by Hervé, p. 8.
44. Quoted in Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower, p. 135.
45. Quoted in Bergdoll, introduction to The Eiffel Tower, by Hervé,
p. 12.
46. Quoted in Neil Baldwin, Edison: Inventing the Century. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2001, p. 205.
47. Quoted in Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower, p. 201.
48. Quoted in Jonnes, Eiffel’s Tower, p. 164.
85
FACTS ABOUT THE
EIFFEL TOWER
Measurements
• Base: 107,584 square feet (9,994.8 sq. m).
• Height of first platform: 187 feet (57 m).
• Height of second platform: 377.2 feet (115 m).
• Height of third platform: 905.5 feet (276 m).
• Height of the tower when built (including flagpole): 1,023.6 feet
(312 m).
• Current height (including antennas): 1,069 feet (325 m).
• Height variation due to outside temperature: 6 inches (15 cm).
• Total weight: 11,023 tons (10,000 metric tons).
• The elevators travel approximately 62,137 miles (100,000 km) per
year.
• Speed of the elevators: 6.56 feet (2 m) per second.
• Weight of iron: About 8,470 tons (7,300 metric tons). Total weight
including nonmetal components: about 11,000 tons (10,000 metric
tons).
• Total area of safety nets: 11,960 square yards (10,000 square m).
Construction
• A staff of fifty engineers and designers took two years to produce
1,700 general drawings and 3,629 detailed drawings.
• Seven million holes were drilled to make the tower. If laid end to end
they would form a tube 43 miles (69 km) long.
• Construction required 18,038 pieces of iron and 2.5 million rivets.
Features
• Steps: A total of 1,665, but 669 to the second level (the highest ac-
cessible to public on foot).
86
• Twenty thousand lightbulbs light the monument at night for five
minutes every hour on the hour.
Upkeep
• Painting: Requires 60 tons of paint, 25 painters, 1,500 brushes, and
15 months, done once every 7 years.
Visitors
• The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.
• About 75 percent of the 7.5 million visitors in 2011 were from other
countries.
87
FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Books
Sandra Forty, Wonders of the World. Charlottesville, VA: Taj Books,
2009.
Bryan Pezzi and Heather Kissock, Eiffel Tower. New York: Weigl,
2011.
Websites
The Construction of the Eiffel Tower (http://abcnews.go.com/Inter
national/slideshow/eiffel-towers-constr uction-star t-fin-
ish-16041965). A site with interesting photos of the tower’s design
plans and construction phase, maintained by ABC News.
88
Looking Up to the Eiffel Tower (www.time.com/time/photogallery
/0,29307,1878708_1842694,00.html). This site from Time.com has
some unusual photos from the tower’s early days, including shots of
the world’s fair and of Eiffel in his lab.
89
INDEX
90
accuracy challenges, 33 Tower and
agreement with Paris city apartment for, 28
officials, 26 on battle against wind, 34
bridge-building principles in, 27 on criticism of, 57–58
competition entries, 19–21 on fame of, 82
contributions of Koechlin and importance of, 8–9
Nougier, 27–29 on importance of, 51
contributions of Sauvestre, 30 motivation for, 22
drawings, 38 opening day celebration of, 60
Eiffel and, 9, 11 on painting, 36
elevators, 36–38 workers and, 46, 47
patents, 31–32 World’s Columbian Exposition
similarity to Exposición Universal proposal by, 59
(Universal Exposition) of 1888, Eiffel et Cie (Eiffel and Company),
27 23–24
structural elements as decorative Eiffel Tower, 10, 15, 53, 56, 73,
features, 23 78
time spent on, 38 elevators
weather/wind challenges, 34–36, access to third level and, 67
35 companies hired to build, 49
dimensions for construction, 43
height, 9, 11–12, 12 design of, 36–38
of viewing platforms, 28 opening day difficulties, 58
Ducretet, Eugene, 76 since Exposition, 67–68, 72
ticket price and, 60, 67
École Centrale des Arts et for 2012 renovation, 69
Manufactures, 21 visitors enthusiasm for, 61
Edison, Thomas, 19, 63–64 Empire State Building, height of,
Edoux, Léon, 37–38 11, 12
Eiffel, (Alexandre-)Gustave, 20, 50 entrepreneur, defined, 9
characteristics of, 32, 39, 46 environmental improvements,
death of, 82 74–75
education of, 21 euro, defined, 76
family of, 21 Evening Telegraph (British
on Garnier, 55 newspaper), 44
Panama Canal and, 81 Expo 67, 79
projects prior to Tower by, 22–25, Exposición Universal (Universal
36 Exposition) of 1888, 27
promises made by, 26, 32 Exposition Universelle de 1878, 23
proposal of, 21 Exposition Universelle de 1889, 15
reputation of, 9 after
role of, 9, 11 modifications, 71–72
91
operation and maintenance, height, 9, 11–12, 12
69–71 hemp, defined, 72
uses, 66 Hitler, Adolf, 77
visitors, 66–68, 74 hoaxes, 70, 80–81
background of, 13–14, 17 hydraulic jacks, defined, 46
closing day, 65
goals of, 14–16, 17 ice skating, 68, 73
location, 16 Imperial Diamond, 18
motto, 16 Industrial Revolution, 16
opening day, 17, 58–60 iron, 30
pavilions and theme, 16–19 Iron Lady, 8
success of, 18
Tower and theme, 8, 19–20 Jonnes, Jill
on elevators, 36–37
facade, 23, 72 on Tower as artistic triumph, 8–9,
Ferris wheel, 59 12
Ferry, Jules, 14–16
Fierro, Annette, 34, 39 Kirkwood, Edyth, 59, 64
Figaro, Le (French newspaper), 21, Koechlin, Maurice
49, 60, 62 design by, 27–29
fireworks, 48, 65, 71 Eiffel’s promises to, 32
foundations, 40, 41 patent share, 31–32
France, political and economic
conditions, 14–15, 17 Las Vegas Eiffel, 75
Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Le Corbusier, 8
14, 18 legs
French Revolution, 13–14 construction of, 29, 42, 43
fretwork, defined, 11 in design, 21, 28
elevators and, 36, 37
Galerie des Machines (Machinery foundations for, 40
Hall), 19 Lemoine, Bertrand, 24, 32
Garabit Viaduct, 24, 27 Levallois-Perret factory, 39
Garnier, Charles, 55 lighting, 71, 72, 73, 78
gas lamp, defined, 71 lightning, 54, 56
Gateway Arch, height of, 12 Lockroy, Édouard, 11
girder, defined, 28 Louis XVI (king of France), 13
Golden Gate Bridge, 67 Loyrette, Henri
Goudeau, Emile, 48 on construction material, 31
Great Pyramid of Egypt, on construction process, 42–43
comparison to, 57–58 on Koechlin and Nougier, 28
Guardian (English newspaper), 80 on role of Eiffel, 9, 11, 81
on Statue of Liberty, 24
Harper’s Weekly (magazine), 59 Lustig, Victor, 70
92
Lycée Royale, 21 after 1889 Exposition, 8, 66–67,
74
Machinery Hall, 19 during 1889 Exposition, 58–62
maintenance, 69–71 praise, 52
Maria Pia bridge, 23 safety concerns, 54–55
Marie Antoinette (queen of publicity, 32–33
France), 13 puddle iron, 30
masonry, 31 purpose, 8, 19
materials, choice of, 30–31 pylons, 21, 27, 28, 31–32
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souvenirs, 62–63 visitors
staircases, 50 after 1889 Exposition, 66–68,
access to third level and, 67 74
emergency, 72 enthusiasm for elevators, 61
number of steps, 68 famous, 63–64
stunts on, 80 number during Exposition, 60
ticket price and, 60, 67 opening day difficulties, 58–60
use by public before elevators, restaurants, shops, attractions for,
58–59 62–63, 68, 73, 74
Statue of Liberty, 24–25, 36 safety features for, 62
steel, 30–31
stonework, 31 Washington Monument, height of,
stunts, 79–80 9, 12, 48, 59
suicide attempts, 79 weather
symbolism, 8, 33 challenges
design, 34–36, 35
television transmission, 76–77 gravel bed foundation and, 40
temperature challenges, 34–35, 40 fears of lightning, 54, 56
Temps, Le (French newspaper), 34, Wild West Show, 18–19
55, 57 Wilhelm I (emperor of Prussia),
Third Republic 14
Exposition goal and, 16 wind resistance, 34–36, 35
overview of, 17 workers
stability of, 14 conditions of, 44, 46, 47
Times (British newspaper), 57 current, 70–71
Trocadéro Square, 80 working conditions, 44, 46, 47
truss, defined, 30 World War I (1914–1918), 66, 76
World War II (1939–1945), 77
United States, reaction in, 59 World’s Columbian Exposition, 59
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PICTURE CREDITS
© Peet Simard/Corbis: 78
© Horacio Villalobos/Corbis: 73
© Phillipe Wojazer/Reuters/Corbis: 56
Laying down the foundations for the Eiffel Tower, 1887, Grasset,
Eugene (1841-1917)/Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France/
Girudon/The Bridgeman Art Library: 41
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Woog has written many books for children, teenagers, and
adults. He also teaches at a preschool. Woog and his wife, who have a
grown daughter, live in Seattle, Washington.
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