Building Mr. Eiffels Penthouse Apartment: A Tower Under …

AParisian friend dropped some very interesting photographs in my inbox this week, some that Id never seen before of the Eiffel Tower in its earliest days. I had previously come across time-lapse photographs of theEiffel Tower inits variousstages of construction, but none like this; none that went behindthe scaffolding, right up close insidethe growing skeleton of what was to become one of the worlds most famous monuments in history

Laying the first bricks

Construction began 1887, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) the tower was finished in time for the 1889 Paris Exhibition. Despite the 18,038 pieces of wrought iron, 2.5 million rivets being used to build the 10,000 ton and 984.25 feet high man-made structure, only300 workers were employedto build it (some reports even estimate it was only 200 workers).

And from the looks of it not a single hard hat (although perhaps the odd top hat)!

The tower was built as a symbol of modern science and engineering, but lucky for us history buffs, another technology was also in its infancy phase photography.The foundations of the tower were capturedby various budding photographers of the time, most of their work now archived by theMuse dOrsay.

Showing the depth of the Eiffel Towers foundations photographed byDurandelle Louis-Emile Musee dOrsay.

via Paris ZigZag.

Those with a fear of heights needed not apply

via Paris ZigZag Photo Arago

And heresGustave Eiffel himself near the summit of his tower in 1889. When the tower first opened, the elevators werent actually operational yet and the 30,000 visitors of the Worlds Fair had to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top.

But of course, the Eiffel Tower wasnt just a hollow tower with a great view. During the opening year, French newspaper Le Figaro opened a printoffice on the second floor,producing a special edition of the daily newspaper on-site every day.

There was also a post office for sending postcards by balloon, scientific laboratories, and allegedly even a theatre! Now that would be a show Id never forget

Iwent digging pretty deepfor some more photography of the Eiffel Tower in its early days and found a few surprising imagesthat I was certaindidnt exist, such as this snap inside Mr.Eiffels much-rumoured private apartmenton the fourth floor of his tower, 285 meter above ground, where he entertained the likes of Thomas Edison.

Taken by the official photographers of the Paris Worlds Fair in 1889, the Neurdein brothers were given full access to all corners of the tower and heres one they took which is what appears to be that alleged theatre (pictured above). Im still looking for more information and material on the illusive theatre, but as the photo dates to 1900, its possible itwas temporarily erected in what is todaysreception room on the 1st floor, for the Exposition Universelle of 1900, the second of three worlds fairs to use the Eiffel Tower as its focal point.

Id bet that my fellow Parisiansreading areseeing some of these images for the first time too

A year after the tower was finished, writer Henri Girard reported in his paper that Gustave Eiffel was the object of general envy. Looking inside his plush lookout penthouse at 290 meters above ground, I think its safe to assume this was because Mr. Eiffel had the best view in town.

Construction images via Paris Zig Zagand Muzo/ Post-construction sourced fromPhoto Arago.

See the original post:
Building Mr. Eiffels Penthouse Apartment: A Tower Under ...