EIFFEL, Gustave

The Eiffel Tower, a lattice iron tower was built on the Champ de Mars in Paris as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which marked the centenary of the French Revolution. It was spearheaded by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose prior projects, including the dramatic iron Garabit viaduct railway bridge (1880-85) and the iron skeleton of Fr�d�ric-Auguste Bartholdi’s statue of Liberty (1883), had won him fame.

Known almost from the very start as La Tour Eiffel after its originator, the astute engineer Gustave Eiffel, the renowned tour de trois cents m�tres was the winning entry (out of 107) in a French government competition for a 300 m tower. It was created as centerpiece of the French capital’s fourth World’s Fair since mid-century.

As the tallest structure on earth in 1889, the Eiffel Tower outdid its nearest competitor: a 169 m stone obelisk across the Atlantic, the Washington Monument (on the National Mall in Washington, DC), completed in 1884 but not dedicated until 1888. The Tower remained the world’s tallest construction until the United States regained the title with the slightly taller Chrysler Building (319 m) in New York City in 1930.

It was certainly Eiffel’s experience and track record that helped him to win the competition, but the famous Tower is not attributable to Eiffel alone. The trio of two chief engineers in Eiffel’s office, Maurice Koechlin (1856-1946) and Emile Nouguier (1840-1897) and the architect Stephen Sauvestre (1847-1919) drew up the project that was submitted to and won the competition. The final structure was an elaboration of Koechlin’s uncompromisingly minimalist pylon of 1884, richly ornamented by Sauvestre.

A little-studied 20th-century “modernization” transformed a significant portion of tower’s exterior. While its lighting has been altered repeatedly over the decades, the silhouette and overall visual personality of the 1889 iron titan were fundamentally changed in 1937. The modification was a stylistic update; the Tower was to appear less old-fashioned in the context of that year’s self-consciously modern Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne.

In the annals of architectural history, the Tower’s structural daring (wind resistance as well as height and shape), metal construction, and largely industrial aesthetic vocabulary, allow it to be considered as a key example of modern engineering architecture

The Eiffel Tower, a lattice iron tower was built on the Champ de Mars in Paris as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which marked the centenary of the French Revolution. It was spearheaded by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose prior projects, including the dramatic iron Garabit viaduct railway bridge (1880-85) and the iron skeleton of Fr�d�ric-Auguste Bartholdi’s statue of Liberty (1883), had won him fame.

Known almost from the very start as La Tour Eiffel after its originator, the astute engineer Gustave Eiffel, the renowned tour de trois cents m�tres was the winning entry (out of 107) in a French government competition for a 300 m tower. It was created as centerpiece of the French capital’s fourth World’s Fair since mid-century.

As the tallest structure on earth in 1889, the Eiffel Tower outdid its nearest competitor: a 169 m stone obelisk across the Atlantic, the Washington Monument (on the National Mall in Washington, DC), completed in 1884 but not dedicated until 1888. The Tower remained the world’s tallest construction until the United States regained the title with the slightly taller Chrysler Building (319 m) in New York City in 1930.

It was certainly Eiffel’s experience and track record that helped him to win the competition, but the famous Tower is not attributable to Eiffel alone. The trio of two chief engineers in Eiffel’s office, Maurice Koechlin (1856-1946) and Emile Nouguier (1840-1897) and the architect Stephen Sauvestre (1847-1919) drew up the project that was submitted to and won the competition. The final structure was an elaboration of Koechlin’s uncompromisingly minimalist pylon of 1884, richly ornamented by Sauvestre.

A little-studied 20th-century “modernization” transformed a significant portion of tower’s exterior. While its lighting has been altered repeatedly over the decades, the silhouette and overall visual personality of the 1889 iron titan were fundamentally changed in 1937. The modification was a stylistic update; the Tower was to appear less old-fashioned in the context of that year’s self-consciously modern Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne.

In the annals of architectural history, the Tower’s structural daring (wind resistance as well as height and shape), metal construction, and largely industrial aesthetic vocabulary, allow it to be considered as a key example of modern engineering architecture

On 6 October 1868 Eiffel entered into partnership with Th�ophile Seyrig, like Eiffel a graduate of the �cole Centrale, forming the company Eiffel et Cie. In 1875, Eiffel et Cie were given two important contracts, one for a new terminus for the line from Vienna to Budapest and the other for a bridge over the river Douro in Portugal. The station in Budapest was an innovative design. The usual pattern for building a railway terminus was to conceal the metal structure behind an elaborate facade: Eiffel’s design for Budapest used the metal structure as the centerpiece of the building, flanked on either side by conventional stone and brick-clad structures housing administrative offices.

The bridge over the Douro came about as the result of a competition held by the Royal Portuguese Railroad Company. The task was a demanding one: the river was fast-flowing, up to 20 m deep, and had a bed formed of a deep layer of gravel which made the construction of piers on the river bed impossible, and so the bridge had to have a central span of 160 m. This was greater than the longest arch span which had been built at the time.

Eiffel’s proposal was for a bridge whose deck was supported by five iron piers, with the abutments of the pair on the river bank also bearing a central supporting arch. Since Eiffel’s company was less experienced than its rivals, the Portuguese authorities appointed a committee to report on Eiffel et Cie’s suitability. Their report was favourable, and Eiffel got the job.

On-site work began in January 1876 and was complete by the end of October 1877: the bridge was ceremonially opened by King Lu�s I and Queen Maria Pia, after whom the bridge was named, on 4 November.