The plan for the tower, originally designed in conjunction with Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nougier, was intended for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. Eiffel designed a new support system and then proceeded to build the giant statue from the bottom up before disassembling it for shipment to New York.īut Eiffel’s greatest accomplishment was, without doubt, the Eiffel Tower. In 1868, Eiffel entered into business with fellow engineer and École Centrale graduate Théophile Seyrig, creating Eiffel et Cie, and in a partnership that lasted less than two years, the pair were commissioned to build a railway terminus in Budapest and a bridge over the River Duoro in Portugal, among other projects.Įiffel was by now enjoying great success and in 1881 was approached by Auguste Bartholdi to finish work on the Statue of Liberty, following the untimely death of its original engineer, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Setting up his own business in 1865, Eiffel began constructing railway stations and bridges throughout France while also assisting in the design of the exhibition hall that would host the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. He then began work for engineer Charles Nepveu and soon unveiled his first design – a 22-metre-long iron bridge for the Saint-Germain-des-Prés railway. He continued his studies at the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris, before moving on to the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris where he specialised in chemistry and graduated in 1855. Educated at the Lycée Royal in Dijon, he was anything but conscientious until his last two years, when he began to work hard in order to obtain his baccalauréat in humanities and science. His best-known creations – the Eiffel Tower and the inner support structure of the Statue of Liberty – are testament to his penchant for utmost mathematical accuracy and grand design.Īlexandre Gustave Eiffel was born in 1832 in the Côte-d’Or département of France into a successful middle-class family. Peter Stewart looks at the life and works of this engineering visionaryįorever linked to one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, Gustave Eiffel is considered by many to be the ‘magician of iron’. Gustave Eiffel’s famous tower celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.
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