Eiffel Tower
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- Published on Saturday, 16 July 2011 16:50
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The Eiffel Tower, or as the French call it “Tour Eiffel”, is a Parisian landmark and one of the most famous Paris attractions which was also a technological masterpiece in building-construction history. In 1889, when the French government was organizing the International Exposition to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution,
they held a competition for designs for a suitable monument to mark the occasion. More than 100 plans were received for entry and the Centennial Committee ended up accepting that of the noted bridge engineer Gustave Eiffel.
Mr. Eiffel’s concept of a 984-foot (300-metre) tower which would be built almost entirely of open-lattice wrought iron caused amazement, skepticism, and a whole lot of opposition on aesthetic grounds. But when completed, the tower was the entrance gateway to the exposition.
Nothing even close to the Eiffel Tower had ever been built before; it was twice the height of the dome of St. Peter’s in Rome and the Great Pyramid of Giza. In contrast to those older monuments, the tower only took two years to erect (1887–89), with a far lesser labor force and at very little cost all things considered.
Drawing from his advanced knowledge (designing bridges) of the behavior of how metal arches and metal truss form under loading, he designed a light, airy, yet strong structure that caused a revolution in civil engineering and architectural design. After the Eiffel Tower opened to the public on March 31, 1889, it completely vindicated itself of all aesthetic concerns.
The Tour Eiffel stands upon four lattice-girder piers which taper inward and join to form a single large vertical tower. The piers are connected to each other by networks of girders at two levels which afford viewing platforms for tourists. The four semicircular arches which can be seen at the tower’s base are purely aesthetic elements that serve no structural function. Because of their unique shape, which was dictated partly by engineering considerations but also from Eiffel’s artistic sense, the piers required elevators to climb on a curve; the glass-cage machines designed by the United States’ Otis Elevator Company became one of the noted features of the building, helping create one of the world’s premier tourist attractions.
The actual tower is 300 meters (984 feet) high. It sits on a base which is 5 meters (17 feet) high, and there is a television antenna a the top of the tower which gives it a total elevation of 324 meters (1,063 feet). The Eiffel Tower, when erected, was the tallest man-made structure in the world until when the Chrysler Building was topped off in New York City in 1929. {tab=History} The Eiffel Tower was constructed between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance piece for the Exposition Universelle, the World's Fair which marked the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Three hundred workers put together 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a very pure form of structural iron), using more than two and a half million rivets, in a structural which was designed by Gustav Eiffel. Eiffel’s assistants on the project were engineers Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin as well as architect Stephen Sauvestre. Unlike modern skyscrapers, because the tower is an open frame without any intermediate floors except the two platforms, there was great risk for the workers. But thanks to the great precautions Eiffel took towards safety, including the use of movable staging, guard-rails and screens, during the two years, only one man died. The towers inauguration took place on 31 March 1889, and it opened on May 6 that year.
The tower received a great deal of public criticism when it was built, with many Parisians calling it an eyesore. Newspapers at the time were filled with many angry letters from the arts community of Paris. One is actually quoted extensively in William Watson's US Government Printing Office publication of 1892 Paris Universal Exposition: Civil Engineering, Public Works, and Architecture: "And during twenty years we shall see, stretching over the entire city, still thrilling with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates.” Signers of this letter included the likes of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Charles Gounod, Charles Garnier, Jean-Léon Gérôme, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Alexandre Dumas.
Interestingly, the Novelist Guy de Maupassant, who said he hated the tower, supposedly ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant daily and when asked why; his answer was that it was the one place in Paris where he could escape the view of the structure. Today however, the Eiffel Tower is unanimously considered to be a great piece of structural art and is one of the first things which comes to mind when considering the city of Paris.
Gustav Eiffel’s permit was for the tower to stand for 20 years. It was due to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would transfer to the City of Paris. The City planned to tear it down but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was permitted to remain after the permit expired.