Montparnasse Tower

The tower was completed in 1973 at two hundred and ten metres, and the reaction was strong enough that building high-rises in central Paris was prohibited two years later, which is why it still stands alone. The observation deck on the fifty-sixth floor and the open terrace on the roof give a three hundred and sixty degree view, and the standard remark, repeated often enough to be a cliche, is that this is the best view in Paris because it is the only one without the Montparnasse Tower in it. The lift reaches the deck in thirty-eight seconds. A renovation has been proposed repeatedly to soften the facade.

History

A first plan of 1934 to rebuild the cramped old Montparnasse station and its district was dropped after strong opposition, and in 1956 public agencies were set up to redevelop the area, which meant clearing many run-down streets over up to 8 hectares. Studies for a tower began in 1958 amid controversy over its height, the new station was built a few hundred metres south between 1966 and 1969, and the building permit was granted in 1968; the American developer Wylie Tuttle put together a consortium of French insurers and banks. Designed by Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien, the 210-metre tower was built between 1969 and 1973 on the site of the old station, standing on 56 concrete piles sunk 70 metres deep, and it was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011; in 2017 the firm Nouvelle AOM won a competition to redesign its facade (Wikipedia, Tour Montparnasse).

What you'll find

• The open roof terrace - a full circle view without glass.
• The Eiffel Tower - visible in full, unlike from the Eiffel itself.
• The city grid - Haussmann's boulevards read clearly from height.
• The lift - thirty-eight seconds to the fifty-sixth floor.

When to go

Year-round; sunset is the popular hour and queues build for it. The roof terrace closes in high wind or rain. Clear winter days give the sharpest long views.

What to expect

The building itself is widely disliked and the surrounding district is unattractive. The roof terrace closes without notice in bad weather. Sunset slots queue heavily.

Nearby

Montparnasse cemetery lies south; Saint-Germain is northeast.

Key facts