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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 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 in the La Défense business district west of Paris's city limits. It remains the tallest building in Paris proper and the third tallest in France, behind Tour First and Tour Hekla. As of July 2023[update], it is the 53rd-tallest building in Europe.
The tower was designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien and built by Campenon Bernard. On 21 September 2017, Nouvelle AOM won a competition to redesign the building's façade.
The building has 59 floors and is built on top of the Montparnasse–Bienvenüe station of the Paris Métro.
There is an observation deck, branded as Paris Montparnasse, located on the 56th floor, 200 m (660 ft) above the ground. The same floor hosts a restaurant called Ciel de Paris, 'Sky of Paris'. There is also a rooftop terrace. On a clear day, the view from the observation deck extends for 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.[why?]
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 reorganise 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 (20 acres).
In 1958, the first studies of the tower were well launched, but the project was strongly criticised because of the height of the building. A controversy ensued, led by the Minister of Public Works Edgard Pisani, who obtained the support of André Malraux, then Minister of Culture under General de Gaulle which led to slowdowns in the project.
However, the reconstruction of the Montparnasse station a few hundred metres 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.
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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 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 in the La Défense business district west of Paris's city limits. It remains the tallest building in Paris proper and the third tallest in France, behind Tour First and Tour Hekla. As of July 2023[update], it is the 53rd-tallest building in Europe.
The tower was designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien and built by Campenon Bernard. On 21 September 2017, Nouvelle AOM won a competition to redesign the building's façade.
The building has 59 floors and is built on top of the Montparnasse–Bienvenüe station of the Paris Métro.
There is an observation deck, branded as Paris Montparnasse, located on the 56th floor, 200 m (660 ft) above the ground. The same floor hosts a restaurant called Ciel de Paris, 'Sky of Paris'. There is also a rooftop terrace. On a clear day, the view from the observation deck extends for 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.[why?]
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 reorganise 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 (20 acres).
In 1958, the first studies of the tower were well launched, but the project was strongly criticised because of the height of the building. A controversy ensued, led by the Minister of Public Works Edgard Pisani, who obtained the support of André Malraux, then Minister of Culture under General de Gaulle which led to slowdowns in the project.
However, the reconstruction of the Montparnasse station a few hundred metres 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.