When Gustave Eiffel finished the tower in 1889, awe and admiration descended upon the designer. Despite some initial reluctance from Parisians who saw it as a winged metallic monster destined to forever cross the skies of the City of Lights , the monument would become the emblem of Paris . The legendary ironworker astonished everyone when he revealed that he had built, for his own enjoyment, a small apartment located directly beneath the spire, a place that seems to touch the clouds from the city's most exclusive building. Gustave Eiffel himself became the envy of the elite.
In Eiffel's time, the small room was filled with wooden furniture, colorful wallpaper, and a grand piano. The apartment also had a small laboratory area, where the designer installed the most advanced scientific equipment of the era. The property wasn't large, but it was cozy. In contrast to the industrial steel beams of the rest of the tower, the living room was furnished simply.
When Parisian high society, the same group that had questioned the beauty and significance of the tower, learned of Eiffel's private hideaway, they began begging him for the chance to rent it, even for just a day. They were unsuccessful: he refused to allow anyone else to use the space. Even today, more than a century later, the tradition continues.
Eiffel rejected exorbitant offers from dozens of millionaires who sought to experience a vacation with the most idyllic views of Paris. Instead, he used it to receive illustrious guests like Thomas Edison, who gifted him a phonograph, or as a quiet space for solitary reflection.
An article by author Jill Jones offers a great visual picture of what a night in Eiffel's private apartment was like. She described an evening when Edison, and other luminaries, stayed at Eiffel's nest: “The guests settled on the dark velvet sofas adorned with fringe. The warm yellow walls were already covered with framed artistic mementos: photographs, drawings, paintings. Charles François Gounod, the composer of the opera Faust, played and sang, and did so splendidly, despite being over 80 years old. High above Paris, Gounod's music floated as the guests smoked cigars, drank brandy, talked, and even sang—a magical late-summer interlude. Working quietly in the background was the American artist A.A. Anderson, best known for his oil portraits, but invited by Eiffel to try to capture Edison's likeness as best he could in a sculpted bust that would commemorate this occasion of genius honoring genius.”
Today any citizen can visit the apartment, as it is open to the public. Visitors can tour the area with much of its original infrastructure intact, for about $30 per person.
Much of the furniture remains the same, and there are a couple of somewhat aged mannequins of Eiffel and Edison. It's an architectural curiosity that could still inspire as much envy today as it did when it was built. While some might think the Eiffel Tower apartment could be a beautiful office or home, offering the best view of all of Paris and surrounded by an open-air balcony, it's important to remember that the tower is one of the city's largest lightning rods. Sleeping there poses a significant risk in case of storms.
Source: https://www.infobae.com/
