Description
A flat in a historic Parisian tower block
The first skyscraper in Paris to be used for housing, this tower built by Edouard Albert in 1960 is an icon of modern architecture in France. Renowned for both its aesthetics and its intelligent construction – a tubular metal structure developed by Edouard Albert – it is listed as a Historic Monument.
This absolutely peaceful corner flat offers panoramic views over Paris and benefits from triple east-south-west exposure. It spans 96 m² and comprises a 41 m² double living room with an 11 m² semi-open-plan kitchen, two 14 m² bedrooms and a bathroom. A cellar completes the property. Some work to be carried out.
The transparent living spaces are immersed in the sky thanks to their many full-height windows. They offer uninterrupted views of Paris and its finest monuments, as well as breathtaking sunsets.
This tower is located in the 13th arrondissement, between Les Gobelins and Place d’Italie, in a peaceful area with a beautiful square and a number of schools.
An innovative construction process
On the outside, the tower’s metal structure forms a regular grid that contributes to the architectural expression of the façade. Composed of tubular steel columns filled with concrete on which a reinforced concrete slab rests, and bracing in the shape of a Saint Andrew’s cross, this structure combines lightness and transparency.
On the 6th floor, a terrace designed for the enjoyment of residents features a 600 m² ceiling painted by the artist Jacques Lagrange.
For this first “skyscraper” for residential use, the architect is attempting to integrate the high-rise building into the Parisian landscape and to use constructive intelligence in the service of a flexible plan. High-rise buildings, which originated in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century with metal structures, did not appear until late in France, where town planning regulations did not allow them for a long time.
The Albert Tower has been widely published in the architectural press, which has highlighted its construction and its aesthetic appeal in the city.
Edouard Albert
Edouard Albert (1910-1968) graduated in architecture from the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris in 1937. His career was marked by his research into materials, which enabled him to develop tubular steel structures. These extremely light structures were part of a search for a link between technique, economy and aesthetics. Édouard Albert was studio head teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1959 to 1968, and a member of the commissions of the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment and of the editorial board of the journal L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui.
In 1955, he built the first building with a tubular structure in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. He also designed the Air France administrative building at Orly. In 1962, André Malraux asked him to take over the project for the Jussieu Faculty of Science, for which he once again used metal tubular architecture, and worked with artists to integrate contemporary art into the architecture of the campus.
In the 1960s, with Edouard Albert, architects such as Jean Prouvé and Claude Parent carried out research into innovative metal structures. In 1969, they built the Maison de l’Iran at the Cité Universitaire Internationale in Paris, a building suspended from a steel framework.
