Tour Maine-Montparnasse (Maine-Montparnasse Tower), also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a office
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
located in the
Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...
area 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 ...
, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the
tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, when it was surpassed by the
Tour First
Tour First (previously known as Tour UAP between 1974–1998, and as Tour Axa between 1998–2007) is an office skyscraper in Courbevoie, in La Défense, the business district of the Paris metropolitan area.
The tower was built in 1974 by Bouyg ...
. It remains the tallest building in Paris outside the
La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbevoie, ...
business district. , it is the
14th tallest building in the European Union. The tower was designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, and Louis Hoym de Marien and built by
Campenon Bernard. On 21 September 2017, Nouvelle AOM won a competition to redesign the building's facade.
Description
Built on top of the
Montparnasse–Bienvenüe Paris Métro
The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the Paris, city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform ar ...
station, the building has 59 floors.
The 56th floor, 200 metres (600') from the ground,
is home to Paris Montparnasse, an observation deck owned by Magnicity, a French company which also operates the
Berlin TV Tower
The Berliner Fernsehturm or Fernsehturm Berlin ( en, Berlin Television Tower) is a television tower in central Berlin, Germany.
Located in the Marien quarter (''Marienviertel''), close to Alexanderplatz in the locality and district of Mitte, t ...
in Berlin and 360 CHICAGO at the former
John Hancock Center
The John Hancock Center is a 100-story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018.
The skyscraper was designed ...
in Chicago. Visitors to the observation deck can also visit the scenic rooftop terrace or make reservations for the 56th-floor restaurant called Ciel de Paris.
The view covers a radius of ; aircraft can be seen taking off from
Orly Airport
Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly an ...
.
The guard rail, to which various antennae are attached, can be
pneumatically
Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located and e ...
lowered.
History
The project
In 1934, the
old Montparnasse station located on the edges of the similarly named boulevard, opposite the Rue de Rennes, appeared ill-suited to traffic. The city of Paris planned to reorganize the district and build a new station. But the project, entrusted to Raoul Dautry (who would give his name to the square of the tower), met strong opposition and was cancelled.
In 1956, on the occasion of the adoption of the new master plan for the Paris traffic plan, the ''Société d'économie mixte pour l'Aménagement du secteur Maine Montparnasse'' (SEMMAM) was created, as well as the ''l'Agence pour l'Opération Maine Montparnasse'' (AOM). Their mission was to redevelop the neighbourhood, which required razing many streets, often dilapidated and unsanitary. The site then occupied up to 8 hectares.
In 1958, the first studies of the tower were well launched, but the project was strongly criticized because of the height of the building. A controversy ensued, led by the
Minister of Public Works
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
Edgard Pisani
Edgard Edouard Pisani (; 9 October 1918 – 20 June 2016) was a French statesman, philosopher, and writer.
He was a European Commissioner and Member of the European Parliament.
Biography
Pisani was born in Tunis, French Tunisia, of French paren ...
, who obtained the support of
André Malraux
Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed by P ...
, then Minister of Culture under General
de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...
which led to slowdowns in the project.
However, the reconstruction of the Montparnasse station a few hundred meters (yards) south of the old one and the destruction of the Gare du Maine, which was included in the real estate project of the AOM, a joint agency which brought together the four architects: Urbain Cassan, Eugène Beaudouin and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien, was carried out from June 1966 to the spring of 1969 with the assistance of the architect Jean Saubot.
In 1968, André Malraux granted the building permit for the Tower to the AOM and work began that same year. The project was spearheaded by the American real estate developer
Wylie Tuttle, who enlisted a consortium of 17 French insurance companies and seven banks in the $140-million multiple-building project, but later distanced himself from the project until his 2002 obituary revealed that the building was his original "brainchild".
It was in 1969 that the decision to build a shopping centre was finally taken.
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...
, then President of the Republic, wanted to provide the capital with modern infrastructure. And despite a major controversy, the construction of the tower was started.
For geographer Anne Clerval, this construction symbolizes the
service economy
Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments:
* The increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer ma ...
of Paris in the 1970s resulting from deindustrialization policies which, from the 1960s, favoured "bypassing by space the most working class strongholds at the time".
Construction
The Montparnasse tower was built between 1969 and 1973 on the site of the old Montparnasse station. The first stone was laid in 1970 and the inauguration took place in 1973.
The foundations of the tower are made up of 56 reinforced concrete pillars sinking 70 meters (200') underground. For urban planning reasons, the tower had to be built just above a metro line; and to avoid using the same support and weakening it, the metro structures were protected by a reinforced concrete shield. On the other hand, long horizontal beams were installed in order to free up the space needed in the basement to fit out the tracks for trains.
Occupation
The tower is mainly occupied by offices. Various companies and organizations have settled in the tower:
* The
International Union of Architects
The International Union of Architects ( French: ''Union internationale des Architectes''; UIA) is the only international non-governmental organization that represents the world's architects, now estimated to number some 3.2 million in all.
About ...
,
Axa
Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services.
The Ax ...
and MMA insurers, the mining and metallurgy company
Eramet
Eramet is a French multinational mining and metallurgy company, listed on the Euronext Paris exchange under the symbol ERA.
The company was founded with the funding of the Rothschild family (although they were careful to avoid being listed as fou ...
,
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
* Political parties have used campaign offices, such as
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
in 1974, the
RPR in the late 70s,
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
's
La République En Marche!
Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...
in 2016,
Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon (; born 26 June 1967) is a French politician known for his former role within the Socialist Party (PS) and Party of European Socialists (PES) and his political party Génération.s.
Hamon joined the Socialist Party in 1988 and ...
since 2018
*Previously Tour Maine-Montparnasse housed the executive management of
Accor
Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide.
Accor op ...
.
The 56th floor, with its terrace, bars and restaurant, has been used for private or public events. During the 80s and 90s, the live
National Lottery was cast on
TF1 from the 56th floor.
Climbing the tower
French urban climber
Alain "Spiderman" Robert, using only his bare hands and feet and with no safety devices of any kind, scaled the building's exterior glass and steel wall to the top twice, in 1995
[Ed Douglas, "Vertigo? No problem for Spiderman", ''Manchester Guardian Weekly'', 11 May 1997, p. 30] and in 2015.
His achievement was repeated by Polish climber Marcin Banot in 2020. From the middle of the way he was followed by a lifeguard on a rope but Marcin refused to connect a safety rope and climbed to the top without any help.
Criticism
The tower's simple architecture, large proportions and monolithic appearance have been often criticized for being out of place in Paris's urban landscape. As a result, two years after its completion the construction of buildings over seven stories high in the city center was banned.
The design of the tower predates architectural trends of more modern skyscrapers today that are often designed to provide a window for every office. Only the offices around the perimeter of each floor of Tour Montparnasse have windows.
It is said that the tower's observation deck enjoys the most beautiful view in all of Paris because it is the only place from which the tower cannot be seen.
A 2008 poll of editors on
Virtualtourist
VirtualTourist (VT) was a free online travel guide and social networking service. The website had over 1.3 million members, which contributed to sharing 3.7 million photos and posted 1.8 million travel tips for over 70,000 locations. Members we ...
voted the building the second-ugliest building in the world, behind
Boston City Hall
Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in 1968 to assume the functions of the Old City Hall.
It is a cont ...
in the United States.
Asbestos contamination
In 2005, studies showed that the tower contained
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
material. When inhaled, for instance during repairs, asbestos is a
carcinogen
A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...
. Monitoring revealed that legal limits of fibers per liter were surpassed and, on at least one occasion, reached 20 times the legal limit. Due to health and legal concerns, some tenants abandoned their offices in the building.
The problem of removing the asbestos material from a large building used by thousands of people is unique. The projected completion time for removal was cited as three years. After a nearly three year delay, removal began in 2009 alongside regular operation of the building. In 2012, it was reported the Maine-Montparnasse Tower was 90% free of asbestos.
Gallery
See also
*
List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region
The tallest structure in the City of Paris and the Île-de-France remains the Eiffel Tower in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, 7th arrondissement, 300 meters high ''(or 330 m including the broadcasting antenna at its top)'', completed in 1889 as ...
References
External links
*
Photos of Tour Montparnasse
{{authority control
Buildings and structures in the 15th arrondissement of Paris
Buildings and structures in Paris
Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...
Office buildings completed in 1972
Montparnasse
Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...
Tourist attractions in Paris