The Cheminée du Front-de-Seine is a

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

located in the

15th arrondissement 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious num ...

, in the

Grenelle Grenelle () is a neighbourhood in southwestern Paris, France. It is a part of the 15th arrondissement of the city. There is currently a Boulevard de Grenelle which runs along the North delimitation of the ''quartier'', and a Rue de Grenelle, a ...

district of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It is 130 metres high and the tallest structure in the district by 30 metres. The chimney was designed by

François Stahly François Stahly (March 8, 1911 Konstanz – July 2, 2006 Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,42 ...

and was built between 1970 and 1971. Its simple white form is unadorned except for aesthetic vents located in top of the structure.

Usage

The chimney ventilates smoke from six boilers used to produce steam from low-sulfur fuel oil, which is distributed through underground pipes to the buildings of the district for central heating and as domestic hot water. It is overseen by the Parisian Company of District Heating (CPCU). Its output is 590 tons of steam per hour. Ordinarily, only four boilers are used. The last two are only used during cold weather or to substitute for unavailable boilers in the CPCU network. In 2016, the boiler house underwent renovations in order to function using

biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat (tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil with ...

instead of fuel oil. The boiler's efficiency was improved by 5% to 8% and the amount of pollutants released was decreased by a factor of 10.

Aquatic garden

The chimney is accompanied by an aquatic garden on the roof of the boiler house, which was designed by Catherine Stahly-Mougin, the daughter of the sculptor. However, seepage of stagnant water from the pools, due to a lack of drainage for rainwater and watertight sealing, led the pools to be emptied in 1995 and, later, to a full renovation of the gardens.

Ornithology

A birdbox was installed on the chimney in 1994 after a pair of Common kestrels was spotted nesting atop the chimney. The nest was abandoned in the years that followed. In March 2013, a pair of

Peregrine falcons The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey back, ...

returned in Paris for the first time in decades, in the same birdbox installed nearly 20 years before. The nest is under camera surveillance, and the couple had 3 chicks in the spring of 2013.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheminee du Front de Seine Towers completed in 1971 Chimneys in France