Built by the architect Édouard Albert between 1958 and 1960, this eponymous work, with its modern architecture, is considered the first residential tower in the capital, standing sixty-six meters tall with twenty-one floors. Widely featured in architectural publications, it has established itself as a true milestone in the history of Paris and has been listed as a historic monument since 1994.
At the beginning of the 20th century, “skyscrapers” did not enjoy a good reputation in France. In 1904, Le Figaro did not hesitate to describe these buildings, born in the United States at the end of the 19th century, as “houses of excessive height.” In 1925, Le Corbusier reignited criticism following the presentation of his plan to redevelop Paris, known as the Plan Voisin, which proposed demolishing the historic city center on the Right Bank in order to erect eighteen sixty-story buildings in its place. It was therefore difficult to imagine the introduction of such a type of structure in the capital, marked as it is by its historic monuments and its Haussmannian architecture.
However, the Croulebarbe district, where the project took shape, offered particularly favorable conditions for the construction of a high-rise tower in the aftermath of the war. Its relative unsanitary conditions, combined with its industrial character, with the presence of numerous factories, made it an area in need of reinvention.
Adrien Brelet, a former student of Auguste Perret, was entrusted by the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urbanism with the task of developing a new urban plan for the district. Édouard Albert joined the project team through the intermediary of the engineer Jean-Louis Sarf, with whom he collaborated on the design of the tubular metal framework for the Épargne de France offices (1954–1956).
The high-rise tower and its smaller five-story building, designed for the Croulebarbe district, reuse this construction method, which would become the architect’s signature.
An innovative construction method
Indeed, both structures feature a metal framework composed of hollow steel tube columns filled with concrete, forming a regular grid. The stability of the whole is ensured by the addition of cross-bracing in the shape of Saint Andrew’s crosses. The tower does not have a reinforced concrete load-bearing core, as revealed by the terrace inserted on the sixth floor, where flights of metal stairs and elevators are visible, staged within a glass volume.
The metal tubes extend one level above the top without any notable structural purpose. This solution, intended to conceal the elevator machinery, gives the tower a certain lightness and elongates its silhouette.
On the façade, the architect introduced variations in the design of the non-load-bearing prefabricated panels, aiming to counteract the sense of monotony created by the building’s highly rational structure. A certain diversity is thus achieved through the seemingly random arrangement of the windows and their outward opening.
The tubular framework also allows for an open floor plan, with no load-bearing walls restricting the architect in the layout of the apartments. As a result, residents can easily adapt the space to their needs, removing lightweight partitions when necessary. It even appears that some apartments have been combined over the decades.
© Plan of an apartment designed by Alain Richard, L’Œil, n°113, mai 1964, p. 51
A synthesis of the modern arts
The terrace, designed for the enjoyment of the residents, features a 600 m² ceiling painted by the artist Jacques Lagrange, reflecting Édouard Albert’s intent to incorporate a work of art from the early design stages that could engage in dialogue with the surrounding architecture.
“It is the first time I have felt that I am participating in a work rather than merely adding an extra layer of work […]. This was not a ‘decoration’ I was commissioned to create, but a painting with a role to play: to break the austerity of the architectural lines while simultaneously enhancing them, giving a sense of space and movement.”
Jacques Lagrange in “Une toile de fond de 600m² va servir de plafond à Paris”, Arts, September 7, 1960.
Edouard Albert
Édouard Albert (1910–1968) graduated from the architecture section of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1937. His career was marked by research into building materials, which led to the development of steel tube structures. He was not alone in exploring these innovative metal frameworks in the 1960s, as seen in the works of Jean Prouvé or Claude Parent, who designed the Maison de l’Iran at the Cité Internationale Universitaire in 1969, a building suspended on a steel frame.
In 1959, at the request of Air France, he designed two buildings at Orly : the Supply and Commercial Armament Center and an administrative building. Shortly after, in 1962, André Malraux entrusted him with the continuation of the Jussieu Faculty of Sciences project, for which he also employed a tubular metal structure and involved artists in the design.
Alongside his private practice, Édouard Albert served as head of the architecture workshop at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts from 1959 to 1968, was a member of the commissions of the Centre scientifique et technique du Bâtiment, and contributed to the editorial committee of the journal L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui.
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