Building the Eiffel Tower
18,038 pieces of metal, 2.5 million rivets, and one vision.
Alex Q. Arbuckle
1887-1889
In 1886, a competition in France was held to design a flagship structure for the upcoming 1889 World Fair.The Centennial Exposition Committee considered more than a hundred wildly varying submissions. The judges ultimately settled on the design for a colossal wrought-iron tower submitted by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.The plan was tremendously ambitious. The nearly 1,000-foot tower would dwarf the 555-foot Washington Monument, at that time the tallest structure in the world, and it would need to be built quickly.Despite protests from some who decried the proposed tower as an eyesore antithetical to the spirit of Paris, construction began in January 1887.
We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection... of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower. - Petition against Eiffel Tower
Contending with soft soil and the danger of flooding from the Seine, Eiffel designed deep cement and stone foundations to hold up the base of the tower.Within six months, the foundations were complete, and the wrought-iron girders of the tower began to sprout above ground level. More than 18,000 precisely shaped metal pieces were produced at Eiffel’s factory on the outskirts of Paris and carted to the construction site in horse-drawn wagons, where they were joined together by 2.5 million rivets. Tower pieces were hoisted into position by creeper cranes, which rose on tracks as the tower gained height. By the time Bastille Day rolled around on July 14, 1888, the tower had reached a height of 380 feet. With only eight months until the opening of the fair, workers had to start pulling 12-hour shifts. Noticing that it took too long for workers to descend to the ground for their lunch breaks, Eiffel had a canteen built on the first platform of the tower.
As the tower reached skyward, the Otis Company built innovative elevators, which were installed on curved tracks.On March 31, 1889, Eiffel celebrated the completion of principal structural work by leading a group of press and officials on a tour of the tower — via the stairs. Upon reaching the top with the hardiest of the party, Eiffel raised a French flag to the booms of a 25-gun salute. The tower did not open to the public until a few days after the opening of the Exposition Universelle on May 6, but was a massive success. Over the course of the fair, nearly 2 million people visited the tower, with thousands climbing the stairs to the very top before the lifts entered service. Despite years of doubts and controversy, Eiffel’s opus quickly became a beloved icon of the city.
