When Gustave Eiffel proposed his iron lattice tower as the centerpiece of the 1889 World’s Fair, Paris’s cultural elite reacted as if he’d suggested building a spaceship in the Louvre. Over 300 artists, writers, and architects—including literary giants like Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas fils—signed a fiery 1887 petition condemning the design as a “gigantic black smokestack” and a “useless and monstrous” eyesore. They argued it would “dishonor” Paris, comparing it to a “tragic street lamp” looming over the city’s beloved Gothic splendor. If Yelp had existed, the Eiffel Tower’s pre-construction reviews would’ve been brutal.
The outrage wasn’t subtle. Critics claimed the tower’s “barbaric” metal frame clashed with Paris’s stone architecture, dubbing it a “metal asparagus” and predicting it would collapse under its own weight. Poet Paul Verlaine allegedly took long detours to avoid glimpsing its construction. Maupassant, who called the tower his “personal nightmare,” supposedly ate lunch daily at its restaurant—the only spot in Paris where he didn’t have to see it. (The irony of funding the tower via his croissant habit was likely lost on him.)
Yet Eiffel, unfazed, defended his project with the calm of an engineer who knew physics would side with him. He quipped that the tower would symbolize “not just the art of the modern engineer, but the century of Industry and Science.” When it opened, the public—initially skeptical—flocked to it in droves. Two million visitors climbed its stairs in the first year, marveling at views previously reserved for birds and angels. The elites, however, doubled down. Novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans declared it a “hole-riddled suppository,” while others insisted it should be dismantled after the fair.
But the tower had the last laugh. Its radio antennae proved crucial for early wireless communication, saving it from demolition. Today, it’s as synonymous with Paris as berets and existential crises, drawing seven million visitors annually. The once-reviled “monster” now generates over €100 million a year, funding its own upkeep and renovations—a poetic revenge on its haters.
So next time you scroll past a NIMBY rant about a new skyscraper, remember: even the Eiffel Tower was once a “disgraceful skeleton.” History’s verdict? Beauty is in the eye of the Instagram tourist. As for Maupassant? His lunch spot is now a Michelin-starred restaurant. The tower, it seems, serves irony with a side of foie gras.
