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Tour Montparnasse

Tour Montparnasse is a 210-meter office skyscraper located in Paris, France. It was the tallest building in France until 2011 and remains the tallest building in Paris outside of the La Défense business district. The tower has 59 floors and its 56th floor houses a restaurant and public observation deck that offers views up to 40 km away. While criticized for its design, the tower was an iconic Parisian landmark until asbestos contamination issues in the 2000s led many tenants to abandon their offices. Removal of asbestos from the building was a long process but reported to be 90% complete by 2012.

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Tour Montparnasse

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Mark

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Tour Montparnasse

Tour Maine-Montparnasse (Maine-Montparnasse Tower), also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is

a 210-metre (689 ft) office skyscraper located in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed
from 1969 to 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, when it was surpassed by the 231-
metre (758 ft) Tour First. It remains the tallest building in Paris outside of the La Défense business
district. As of February 2020, 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.[5] On September 21, 2017, Nouvelle AOM won a competition to redesign the
building's facade.[6]

Contents

1 Description

2 Occupation

3 Climbing the tower

4 Criticism

5 Asbestos contamination

6 Gallery

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

Description

The logo of Tour Montparnasse

Built on top of the Montparnasse – Bienvenüe Paris Métro station, the building has 59 floors.

The 56th floor, 200 metres from the ground,[7] houses a restaurant called le Ciel de Paris,[8] and the
terrace on the top floor, are open to the public for viewing the city.

The view covers a radius of 40 km (25 mi); aircraft can be seen taking off from Orly Airport.

The guard rail, to which various antennae are attached, can be pneumatically lowered.

Occupation

The tower is mainly occupied by offices. Various companies and organizations have settled in the tower:

The International Union of Architects, Axa and MMA insurers, the mining and metallurgy company
Eramet, Al Jazeera

Political parties have used campaign offices, such as François Mitterrand in 1974, the RPR in the late 70s,
Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche! in 2016, Benoît Hamon since 2018
Previously Tour Maine-Montparnasse housed the executive management of Accor.[9]

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[10] and in
2015.[11]

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.[12][13]

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.[14] As a result, two years after its completion the
construction of buildings over seven stories high in the city center was banned.[15]

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.[16]

A 2008 poll of editors on Virtualtourist voted the building the second-ugliest building in the world,
behind Boston City Hall in the United States.[17]

Asbestos contamination

In 2005, studies showed that the tower contained asbestos material. When inhaled, for instance during
repairs, asbestos is a carcinogen. 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.[18]

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.[19]

Gallery

Highpoints of Paris.svg