# Tour Montparnasse
**Tour Montparnasse** (also called Tour Maine-[Montparnasse](https://www.edgepedia.org/montparnasse)) is a 210-meter office skyscraper at 33 avenue du Maine in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, inaugurated on 18 June 1973 and still the tallest building within the city limits of Paris.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) • [2](https://www.paris.fr/pages/il-y-a-53-ans-les-premiers-occupants-des-bureaux-de-la-tour-montparnasse-en-video-33569) Built over the Montparnasse railway station as the centerpiece of the Maine-Montparnasse development, it became the tallest skyscraper in France, a position it held for 38 years until the 231-meter [Tour First](https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-first) at [La Défense](https://www.edgepedia.org/la-defense) overtook it in 2011.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) Its reception shaped Parisian planning for half a century: the hostile response to the tower led the city to bar new buildings above 37 meters in 1977, and it remains the only skyscraper in central Paris.[3](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2007/10/29/les-tours-un-tabou-depuis-les-annees-1970_972278_823448.html) • [1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Height and floors | 210 m and 59 floors by the city of Paris's count; the Council on Vertical Urbanism database records 209 m architectural height and 58 floors above ground[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) • [4](https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/tour-montparnasse/1487) |
| Inauguration | 18 June 1973, after construction from 1969; first stone laid April 1970[2](https://www.paris.fr/pages/il-y-a-53-ans-les-premiers-occupants-des-bureaux-de-la-tour-montparnasse-en-video-33569) • [5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) |
| Architects | Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, Louis de Hoÿm de Marien, with the collaboration of Jean Saubot[6](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16694583r) |
| Structure | Reinforced concrete central core, bronze glass and aluminum curtain wall, 25 high-speed elevators; built directly above the Paris Metro behind a reinforced concrete shield[7](https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/epsteins-top-100-projects-20-tour-maine-montparnasse) |
| Floor area | 120,000 m² total, including 90,000 m² of offices; around 5,000 people worked in the building[8](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf) |
| Height record | Tallest office tower in Europe at completion; tallest in France for 38 years, until Tour First (231 m) in 2011[7](https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/epsteins-top-100-projects-20-tour-maine-montparnasse) • [1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) |
| Status in 2026 | Emptied and closed to the public on 31 March 2026 for renovation; in September 2026 co-owners voted against the project, whose permit expires at the end of November 2026[9](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/25/tour-montparnasse-renovation-halted-paris) |
## Origins and planning
The tower grew out of a decades-old problem: from 1934 the railway operator had judged that the [Gare Montparnasse](https://www.edgepedia.org/gare-montparnasse) no longer met its needs, and the station was to be moved so the freed land could be redeveloped.[5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) In 1956 the minister Edgar Pisani took the project in hand and set up with the city of Paris and the SNCF a mixed public-private company, the SEMAMM (Société d'économie mixte Maine Montparnasse), to study an operation combining a new station with hotels, shops, housing, and offices.[10](https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-fabrique-de-l-histoire/rediffusions-la-tour-montparnasse-pierre-tombale-de-l-utopie-d-un-paris-futuriste-2672030)
**Design competition.** The first studies for the tower date from 1959, and the early project was criticized for its height and ran into blockages.[5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) The winning design, developed between June 1966 and spring 1969, brought together four architects: Urbain Cassan, Eugène Beaudouin, and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien, with the assistance of Jean Saubot.[6](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16694583r) In 1968 the Minister of Culture André Malraux granted the building permit; in 1969 President Georges Pompidou, intent on modernizing the capital's infrastructure, approved construction of a modern complex with a shopping center.[5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) Malraux had defended the project in pointed terms, saying the tower would embody "a contemporary belfry".[11](https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/06/18/01016-20130618ARTFIG00357-la-tour-montparnasse-quarante-ans-et-apres.php)
## Construction
Work began in 1969, with the first stone laid in April 1970.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) • [5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) The first stage removed 420,000 m³ of rubble, and for planning reasons the tower had to rise directly above the Metro, which was protected by a shell of reinforced concrete so the two structures would not share supports.[5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) • [7](https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/epsteins-top-100-projects-20-tour-maine-montparnasse) The foundations consist of 56 reinforced concrete pillars sunk 230 feet underground, and the Metro stayed in operation throughout the 1969 to 1973 construction period.[7](https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/epsteins-top-100-projects-20-tour-maine-montparnasse)
The oval office tower was designed around a central concrete core housing 25 high-speed elevators, four stairways, and service shafts, with the floor girders in structural steel and a skin of bronze glass and aluminum.[7](https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/epsteins-top-100-projects-20-tour-maine-montparnasse) The structure reached 200 m and 57 floors in March 1972, then gained two more levels carrying a radio relay station and a heliport, later converted into the roof terrace.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) After nearly four years of work the tower was inaugurated on 18 June 1973, discreetly, four days before the first occupants moved in.[5](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/) • [12](https://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/lhistoire-tourmentee-de-la-tour-montparnasse-27-03-2026-WDUN6SHN6VH6THYELX7OIECI5E.php)
## The building and its uses
The tower is essentially an office building: about 5,000 people worked for the several hundred businesses inside, mainly banks, mutual and insurance companies, in 120,000 m² of space including 90,000 m² of offices.[8](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf) Only the 56th and 59th floors are open to the public, with an observatory at 196 m reached by an express elevator that covers the climb in 38 seconds, about 5 meters per second, and an outdoor terrace at 210 m.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) • [13](https://www.paris.fr/pages/a-chacun-sa-tour-montparnasse-33232) Around 600,000 visitors a year came for the panoramic view before closure.[8](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf)
The tower has carried a public life beyond offices. In the 1980s the Loto draw was broadcast live from the 56th floor on TF1; political movements set up headquarters there, the RPR in 1976–1977, [Emmanuel Macron](https://www.edgepedia.org/emmanuel-macron)'s movement in 2016, and [Benoît Hamon](https://www.edgepedia.org/benoit-hamon)'s in 2018; and its facade has displayed messages for humanitarian causes, the Paris 2024 Olympic colors in 2017, and the #TousAntiCovid campaign during the Covid-19 crisis.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) It has also served as a film set, in Buñuel's *Le Fantôme de la liberté* and in Charles Nemes's two *Tour Montparnasse infernale* comedies with Eric and Ramzy as window cleaners.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034)
## Reception and the end of Parisian towers
The tower was controversial from the start. Nicknames such as "veuve noire" (black widow) and "hérésie urbaine" circulated, and a joke borrowed from Tristan Bernard's quip about the [Eiffel Tower](https://www.edgepedia.org/eiffel-tower) was turned on it: the most beautiful view of Paris is from its summit, the only place from which the tower itself cannot be seen.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) • [11](https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/06/18/01016-20130618ARTFIG00357-la-tour-montparnasse-quarante-ans-et-apres.php) France Culture's history documentary described it as finished in 1973 when practically no one wanted it any more except its developers.[10](https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-fabrique-de-l-histoire/rediffusions-la-tour-montparnasse-pierre-tombale-de-l-utopie-d-un-paris-futuriste-2672030)
**The 1977 height limit.** The backlash had lasting regulatory effect. President [Valéry Giscard d'Estaing](https://www.edgepedia.org/valery-giscard-destaing), elected in 1974, symbolically halted the Apogée tower at the porte d'Italie, and in 1977 the Conseil de Paris adopted the 37-meter ceiling set out in the state's land-use plan; the local urban plan voted in 2006 kept it.[3](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2007/10/29/les-tours-un-tabou-depuis-les-annees-1970_972278_823448.html) A 2003 city consultation found 63 percent of Parisians hostile to towers.[3](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2007/10/29/les-tours-un-tabou-depuis-les-annees-1970_972278_823448.html) The bioclimatic PLU voted in June 2023 again bars new projects above 37 meters, so the tower will remain the only skyscraper in central Paris.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034)
## Asbestos removal
Asbestos fire-proofing, banned in France since 1997, was present throughout the building. After a 2005 newspaper report turned the issue into a scandal, the owners decided at a general meeting in December 2005 to remove it, under a prefectoral order of 28 June 2006 that allowed the work to proceed alongside the building's normal activity.[8](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf) Two external freight elevators, each carrying 3.2 tonnes, were mounted on the southern facade on a 200-meter mast weighing 43 tonnes, anchored to withstand winds up to 200 km/h, so occupants could keep using the internal elevators.[8](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf) Asbestos waste was inerted by vitrification with a [plasma torch](https://www.edgepedia.org/plasma-torch) at 1,600 °C. By the end of the program the tower was 90 percent asbestos-free, with completion set for November 2012 and no accidents among the elevator workers.[8](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf)
## The renovation saga
From the 2010s the tower's owners acknowledged the need to transform the outdated complex. An international architecture competition launched in 2016 drew more than 700 candidates; Nouvelle AOM, a consortium of three French agencies (Franklin Azzi, ChartierDalix, Hardel Le Bihan), won in 2017 with a design for a new [double-skin facade](https://www.edgepedia.org/double-skin-facade), extensive planting, a hotel, and photovoltaic panels covering nearly half the tower's artificial lighting needs.[1](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034) • [14](https://www.franklinazzi.fr/en/news/tour-montparnasse-restructuration-lourde-et-extension-dun-immeuble-de-grande-hauteur) In parallel, the city ran a public consultation on rethinking the surrounding public spaces, with a design team led by the British firm Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners and the landscape architect Michel Desvigne, who promised 2,000 new trees.[15](https://cdn.paris.fr/paris/2023/10/24/bilan-de-concertation-maine-montparnasse-2023-accessible-zGSn.pdf) • [16](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/04/11/the-planning-battle-to-revive-tour-montparnasse-paris-s-only-skyscraper_6752306_19.html)
The project repeatedly stalled. In 2026 the architect [Renzo Piano](https://www.edgepedia.org/renzo-piano), winner of the 1998 Pritzker Prize, was brought in to revive the shopping center redevelopment, proposing open ground floors, 151 trees, a student residence, and 11,000 additional square meters of offices.[17](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/01/13/paris-launches-project-for-montparnasse-renovation_6749346_19.html) The observatory and 56th-floor event space closed on 31 March 2026, and the tower was emptied of occupants for works expected to last several years.[18](https://pro.visitparisregion.com/en/download/pdf/261586) • [2](https://www.paris.fr/pages/il-y-a-53-ans-les-premiers-occupants-des-bureaux-de-la-tour-montparnasse-en-video-33569)
**Collapse of the vote.** In September 2026 the renovation was halted: the estimated cost had more than doubled to €800 million, and when the co-owners met for a final vote before the building permit expired at the end of November, more than three-quarters voted against. The tower, already emptied and closed, was left facing an uncertain future, with glass falling from its facade that summer and some left-wing councillors suggesting the obsolete building be demolished and replaced by a park.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/25/tour-montparnasse-renovation-halted-paris) A minority of co-owners, including the entrepreneur [Xavier Niel](https://www.edgepedia.org/xavier-niel), called for all parties to find a solution, and the mayor of Paris's office asked for an alternative proposal so the site would not stand still.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/25/tour-montparnasse-renovation-halted-paris)
## References
1. [La tour Montparnasse fête ses 50 ans !, Ville de Paris](https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-tour-montparnasse-fete-ses-50-ans-24034)
2. [Il y a 53 ans, les premiers occupants des bureaux de la tour Montparnasse, Ville de Paris](https://www.paris.fr/pages/il-y-a-53-ans-les-premiers-occupants-des-bureaux-de-la-tour-montparnasse-en-video-33569)
3. [Les tours, un tabou depuis les années 1970, Le Monde (2007)](https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2007/10/29/les-tours-un-tabou-depuis-les-annees-1970_972278_823448.html)
4. [Tour Montparnasse, The Skyscraper Center](https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/tour-montparnasse/1487)
5. [Histoire, Tour Montparnasse (Observatoire Paris Montparnasse)](https://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/fr/histoire/)
6. [Notice RAMEAU "Paris (France) -- Tour Montparnasse", Bibliothèque nationale de France](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb16694583r)
7. [Epstein's Top 100 Projects: #20: Tour Maine-Montparnasse, Epstein](https://www.epsteinglobal.com/news/epsteins-top-100-projects-20-tour-maine-montparnasse)
8. [Worksite setup during asbestos removal work on the Montparnasse Tower, EU-OSHA case study](https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Tour%20Monparnasse%20case%20study.pdf)
9. [Tall, dark and hated: plan to renovate 'Paris's ugliest building' put on hold, The Guardian (25 September 2026)](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/25/tour-montparnasse-renovation-halted-paris)
10. [La Tour Montparnasse : pierre tombale de l'utopie d'un Paris futuriste, France Culture, La Fabrique de l'Histoire](https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-fabrique-de-l-histoire/rediffusions-la-tour-montparnasse-pierre-tombale-de-l-utopie-d-un-paris-futuriste-2672030)
11. [La tour Montparnasse, quarante ans et après ?, Le Figaro (2013)](https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/06/18/01016-20130618ARTFIG00357-la-tour-montparnasse-quarante-ans-et-apres.php)
12. [L'histoire tourmentée de la tour Montparnasse, Le Parisien (2026)](https://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/lhistoire-tourmentee-de-la-tour-montparnasse-27-03-2026-WDUN6SHN6VH6THYELX7OIECI5E.php)
13. [À chacun sa tour… Montparnasse, Ville de Paris](https://www.paris.fr/pages/a-chacun-sa-tour-montparnasse-33232)
14. [Montparnasse Tower, major refurbishment and extension of a high-rise building, Franklin Azzi Architecture](https://www.franklinazzi.fr/en/news/tour-montparnasse-restructuration-lourde-et-extension-dun-immeuble-de-grande-hauteur)
15. [Bilan de concertation Maine-Montparnasse 2023, Ville de Paris](https://cdn.paris.fr/paris/2023/10/24/bilan-de-concertation-maine-montparnasse-2023-accessible-zGSn.pdf)
16. [The planning battle to revive Tour Montparnasse, Paris's only skyscraper, Le Monde EN (11 April 2026)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/04/11/the-planning-battle-to-revive-tour-montparnasse-paris-s-only-skyscraper_6752306_19.html)
17. [Paris launches project for Montparnasse renovation, Le Monde EN (13 January 2026)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/01/13/paris-launches-project-for-montparnasse-renovation_6749346_19.html)
18. [The Montparnasse Tower – Temporary closure for renovation works, Paris Region tourism](https://pro.visitparisregion.com/en/download/pdf/261586)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Architecture, buildings, and civil works › Buildings and architectural ensembles › Skyscrapers and high-rise towers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license