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  #1  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2007, 7:11 PM
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PARIS | Tour Montparnasse | 689 FT / 210 M | 59 FLOORS | 1973









The following were taken by me, today :

From the Cimetière Montparnasse, 3PM









Boulevard Edgar Quinet :







The slender side :



At dusk :





^Scaffolding used for the renovation that has just begun





Avenue du Maine :









Last fall :



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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 4, 2007, 7:35 PM
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I like it. Very sleek.
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  #3  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 12:12 AM
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yea most people really hate it but its not that bad, its just alone. Is the building going to look any different once the renovation is done?
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  #4  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 5:51 AM
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do you know why it was built away from everything else?
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  #5  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 7:36 AM
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It's not built away from everything else. Very little, if anything in Paris, is built away from everything.
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Last edited by LMich; Feb 5, 2007 at 7:55 AM.
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  #6  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 7:38 AM
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nice building that offers te best views of Paris
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  #7  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 8:40 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LMich View Post
It's not built away from everything else. Very little, if anything in Paris, is built away from everything.
He meant the other skyscrapers. It's clearly the tallest thing for several miles around.

(And don't make 'well it's the tallest building in the country' jokes, you know what I mean.)
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  #8  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 10:32 AM
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I'd say that La Défense (and not Montparnasse) is far from everything.

More photos :



^Notice the pigeon... I'm actually proud of that one.




Last edited by Fabb; Feb 5, 2007 at 3:54 PM.
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  #9  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 10:48 AM
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I added that


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  #10  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 3:14 PM
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^The view from the Rue de Rennes is one of the best.

I also enjoy watching the Tour Montparnasse from the Jardin du Luxembourg... but not in winter.
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  #11  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 3:17 PM
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Oh man, who wants to complain about this clearly stunning tower.
It's so elegant and timelessly modern.....
Plus it's been miles ahead of its time!
So much better than any building in la defense.
Thumbs up for Tour Montparnasse!
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 6:29 PM
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Is that not the skyscraper that went up and then everyone hated it and it made Paris ban skyscrapers, and that is why La Defense happened?

Thats what I heard. They felt this tower ruined Paris' beauty, so they banned high-rises.
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  #13  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 7:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miketoronto View Post
Is that not the skyscraper that went up and then everyone hated it and it made Paris ban skyscrapers, and that is why La Defense happened?

Thats what I heard. They felt this tower ruined Paris' beauty, so they banned high-rises.
Yes and no.

La Défense was planned (and started) even before the Tour Montparnasse was under construction.
So, the decision to create a business center with high-rises oustide Paris has nothing to do with the rejection of the Tour Montparnasse.

However, in 1974 (after the death of George Pompidou, the president who favored modernity), skyscrapers were, indeed banned from the city center, and that decision, certainly benefited to La Défense.

I'm not sure that the Tour Montparnasse was the main reason for the ban. Many other high-rises were built around 1970 (13e arrondissement, Jussieu, Front de Seine...) and they were said to be wildly unpopular (I have my doubts about the reality of that assertion). I think that the mediocrity of those developments resulted in the ban.
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  #14  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2007, 9:51 PM
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thanks Fabb. i have allways wondered why there were no other skyscrapers around it
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  #15  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2007, 12:13 AM
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Like Taipei 101, the lack of skyscrapers around it makes it look that much more important.
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  #16  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2007, 12:22 AM
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Thumbs up

As it is unique climbing in sky, it makes it a piece of interesitng block. I like just while is a one-block middle lowrises. It is quite clean, simple and easy to learn and read in skyline by its times. If would had a lot of similar ones around, then the mediocry would comes. As it is alone, it is beautiful. Comparing to many decay lowrises around it, it is awesome. The low rises could be changed to more blank spaces in between with medium scrapers.
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  #17  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2007, 12:39 AM
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What goes on in that building that it was given such a lofty name?
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  #18  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2007, 8:07 AM
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Jeff,

Montparnasse used to be a hill, but was leveled for Boulevard Montparnasse sometime in the 18th century. Just about like any city, the topography of Paris today is largely leveled hills, with a few exceptions (i.e. Montmartre). The area today is a major transit and business hub, which is why I was kind of confused about the comment about the tower being out of place. In fact, it's location makes a lot of sense to me, even if it does stick out as one of the lone skyscrapers in the central city. I guess I would have understood more a question about why other skyscrapers of its height weren't built in Paris, but it hardly seems "out of the way" or "out of place," to me, since Montparnasse is such a major transit and business node in Paris.

BTW, this is one of my favorite skyscrapers, ever. And, a lot of that has to do with its uniqueness in Paris, but it's just a very clean and nearly perfect modern design if you ask me. It just seems so quintessentially French.

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Where the trees are the right height

Last edited by LMich; Feb 6, 2007 at 8:15 AM.
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  #19  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2007, 8:33 AM
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Maybe it's just because it's in Paris...I don't know...but it seems to have a simple elegance to it that I really like.
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  #20  
Old Posted Feb 7, 2007, 3:28 AM
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hey Fabb i know this has nothing to do with Tour Montparnasse but what is the building with the big square whole in the middle called?
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