Architecture and Design Atlas

How Space Is Shaped
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Architects and Designers

Gustave Eiffel

Also Known As Gustave Bonickhausen
Nineteenth-Century Revival and Eclectic Architecture

Gustave Eiffel (15 December 1832 to 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer and entrepreneur whose company, the Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel, built the tower in Paris that carries his name for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. The tower's original design is credited to two of his engineers, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, with decorative arches added by the architect Stephen Sauvestre; Eiffel bought the rights to their patent and built the structure under his own name and at his own commercial risk. Earlier in his career Eiffel devised the internal iron pylon that supports the copper skin of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, and his firm built numerous railway bridges across Europe, including the Garabit Viaduct. In 1893 Eiffel was found guilty of misuse of funds in the Panama Canal financial scandal and fined, a conviction later overturned on appeal; he spent his later years working on aerodynamics and meteorology, including wind tunnel experiments conducted from the tower itself. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Birth Date
1832-12-15 1
Birth Year
1832 1
Death Date
1923-12-27 1
Death Year
1923 1
Nationality
French 1
Defining Contribution
Built the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 Exposition Universelle through his engineering company and designed the internal iron pylon supporting the Statue of Liberty. 1
Connections

Associated With

Gustave Eiffel's firm built the tower and he directed the project to completion and defended it publicly, though the structural design itself was the work of his senior engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier.

Source Wikipedia: Gustave Eiffel

Works Designed

Why this is disputed. Attribution is genuinely contested: engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier drafted the original 1884 design and architect Stephen Sauvestre added the decorative arches and pavilion; Eiffel bought the patent rights from the three of them and his company built the tower under his own name and commercial risk, which is why the tower and this credit carry his name.

Source Wikipedia: Eiffel Tower

Eiffel designed the statue's internal metal framework; the sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue itself and is not yet a live entity in this atlas.

Source Statue of Liberty (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Nationality

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Source Wikipedia: Gustave EiffelLead sentence 1
Quote, Lead sentence 1
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( EYE-fəl; French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ ɡystav ɛfɛl]; né Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Gustave Eiffel
Wikipedia
  • Early life
    15 December 1832
  • Later career, death
    Eiffel died on 27 December 1923, while listening to Beethoven's 5th symphony andante, in his mansion on Rue Rabelais in Paris.
  • Later career, death, year only
    Eiffel died on 27 December 1923
  • Lead sentence
    Alexandre Gustave Eiffel...was a French civil engineer.
  • Introduction, Eiffel Tower
    He is best known for the Eiffel Tower, designed by his company and built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris
  • Early life
    Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was born in France, in the Côte-d'Or, the first child of Catherine-Mélanie (née Moneuse) and Alexandre Bonickhausen dit Eiffel.
  • Associated With: Completion of the Eiffel Tower, Eiffel Tower
View the Source
Wikipedia: Eiffel Tower
WikipediaWorks Designed: Eiffel Tower, Origin
Quote, Works Designed: Eiffel Tower, Origin
Sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. The new version gained Eiffel's support: he bought the rights to the patent on the design which Koechlin, Nouguier, and Sauvestre had taken out, and the design was put on display at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in the autumn of 1884 under the company name.
View the Source
Statue of Liberty (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationWorks Designed: Statue of Liberty, lead paragraph, second sentence
Quote, Works Designed: Statue of Liberty, lead paragraph, second sentence
its metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.