Why Gustave Eiffel's name remains famous

Leaving behind a legacy of 700 constructions in 30 countries, visionary French engineer Gustave Eiffel died 100 years ago, on December 27, 1923 in Paris, at the age of 91.

His name is of course most directly associated with the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris. The landmark structure has since become the symbol of the French capital and one of the world's most-visited attractions.

It is only through a quirk of history, however, that the striking tower bears the name of Gustave Eiffel, or that it is even standing today.

Tower designed by Eiffel's team

The engineer was initially not enthusiastic about the structure designed by Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nougier, colleagues in his construction company, Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel.

That's why Eiffel involved his chief architect, Stephen Sauvestre, in the planning. The number of floors were reduced from six to three, while Sauvestre changed the position of the foundations and added the striking round arch under the first platform.

Eiffel, Koechlin and Nougier jointly applied for a patent on the design principle. Eventually Eiffel bought the copyrights from his employees.

The structure was subsequently named Eiffel Tower. But it could also have been called the Koechlin & Nougier Tower or the Sauvestre Tower. Who remembers them today?

'A tragic lamppost'

Critics initially disparaged the design as a "tragic lamppost," a "disgusting ink stain," or the "disgrace of Paris."

An open letter against the project was published in the magazine Les Temps on February 14, 1887.

"We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate lovers of the still intact beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength and indignation in the name of misunderstood French taste, in the name of art and threatened French history, against the construction of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower," the letter stated.

Among the signatories were writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Leconte de Lisle, Charles Gounod and Alexandre Dumas. 

The latter criticized the "dizzying ridiculousness" of the tower, which would dominate the city like a "gigantic black factory chimney" and overwhelm the architecture with its "barbaric mass."

But the idea of the tower caught on and Eiffel was able to quickly realize the construction, which consisted of 18,000 individual parts.

He even took on a large part of the financing by securing the lucrative usage rights for 20 years. People's curiosity about the monumental half-timbered tower was huge from the start.

Business sense and engineering skills

Eiffel, who was born in Dijon on December 15, 1832, perhaps inherited his business savy from his mother, Catherine Moneuse.

The daughter of a timber merchant, she had invested in the booming hard coal business and the family's wealth grew massively within a short period of time.

In 1856, Gustave entered the service of Charles Nepveu, a civil engineering contractor and by his mid-20s the young Eiffel was already the construction manager of one the largest construction sites in France, the Bordeaux railway bridge.

Things got off to a good start for Eiffel professionally, but he was still single in his 30s, and wrote to his mother that he needed "a neat housewife who won't pester me too much." His mother found a match for him: 17-year-old Marie Gaudelet, whom he soon married.

The young Eiffel's constructions were in demand everywhere. He soon built churches in the Philippines and Peru, the Western Railway Station in Budapest, bridges in Vietnam and the iron framework of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Eiffel Tower was to be demolished

The plan was to demolish the Eiffel Tower once Gustave Eiffel's 20-year permit to use the land had expired.

However, the engineer wanted to have his masterpiece preserved for posterity. Early on, he started searching for a scientific purpose for the tower that would justify its existence.

He set up a meteorological and an astronomical observation station, while scientific experiments were carried out there also.

In 1898, the first wireless telegraph connection was established between the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon.

By 1910, no one would have even considered demolishing the Eiffel Tower. Eiffel's rights were renewed for decades. 

During the First World War, the French army used the Eiffel Tower as a strategic observation post.

And it remained standing despite being threatened during World War II: The Nazis decided not to blow up the tower in 1944 when their defeat became apparent.

After the Second World War, all sorts of athletes — mountaineers, motocross riders, mountain bikers, bungee jumpers, parachutists and even tightrope acrobats — found a way to integrate the striking tower into their stunts.

The Eiffel Tower is still a top tourist attraction in Paris today, but is now considered a "rusty old lady."

The 324-meter-high (1,063-feet) and 7,300-ton iron tower was not actually intended to last forever since initial plans were to have it dismantled.

According to research from 2022 by French magazine Marianne, corrosion is causing major damage to the tower that urgently needs an overhaul.

"We saw Notre Dame burning, will we see the Eiffel Tower collapse?” asked the article's author.

This article was originally written in German.