Did you know that there were apartments inside the Eiffel Tower?

The beautiful ornate Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous monuments in the world. It is the symbol of the “light city”. Annually, nearly ten million people visit it. More than knowing this icon of Parisian art and architecture and being able to observe the beautiful panoramic view of the city, they are attracted by the possibility of experiencing part of French history. And what many of them do not even realize is that, in this unlikely place, two private accommodations have already been built.

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was designed by the engineer Gustave Eiffel in the 1880s. Its inauguration marked the first World Exposition and the centenary of the French Revolution. In total, there are three hundred and twenty-four meters in height of a structure made of industrial steel. It served as the basis for important studies on wind and iron resistance. It was to be a temporary building, but it fell on the people’s graces and was maintained. Unfortunately, their permanence has been criticized by artists and intellectuals for several decades.

The flat of Gustave Eiffel

Since 2015, tourists visiting the French capital have more space to enjoy within the Eiffel Tower. One of the narrower access areas, at the top of the penthouse, hides a fascinating secret from Gustave Eiffel. It is an apartment, very small and simple by the standards of its time, but that was considered one of the most coveted and valuable properties of the city.

Gustave received numerous proposals for rent and purchase of his flat, but he refused them all. Only dearest friends had the privilege of being invited to visit the place and enjoy their company. Thomas Edson, for example, was one of them. In 1899, the businessman was at Eiffel’s apartment and even presented him with a phonograph.

The Eiffel apartment is located on the third level of the Tower. It has the modern metallic lattice structure exposed inside. But, in contrast to this, it presents a totally different decoration, romantic, classic, intimate and comfortable, typical of life in the nineteenth century. Almost everything has remained unchanged since the construction. That is why tourists have the chance today to understand how these dependencies were used.

Inside the apartment there are areas for reflection, entertainment and a laboratory, with experimentation equipment. The different environments are richly decorated with brightly colored wallpapers, wood paneling and oil paintings. Among the pieces of furniture, there are tables, cabinets and shelves in wood, circular armchairs and other upholstered in velvet.

The tourist apartment

All people on this planet have certainly had some kind of impossible dream. What if there was a way to make them one? For the Home Away company, of real estate rents, gave a unique opportunity to four winners of an international competition: to spend a night in the Eiffel Tower. This occurred during the period of the French edition of the Eurocopa – the European Football Championship.

Inside the Tower, fifty-seven meters from the ground and just below the flat of Gustave Eiffel, there is a space where before it was customary to hold events. In it, a luxurious temporary apartment, with six hundred and ten square meters, was built. The author of the project was the French designer Benoit Leleu. After architectural planning, everything was built in just forty-eight hours. The result was very interesting.

Over one hundred and fifty thousand people have signed up for the contest. They all dreamed of having a rare panoramic view of Paris. The chosen ones also could appreciate the classic, warm and contemporary environments idealized by Benoit. Inside the apartment was a living and dining room, with a hundred and forty-inch television, a kitchen, a bathroom, a double bedroom and a single bedroom with three beds. All the decor followed the clean style.

source: Blog da Arquitetura

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