Lego Architecture Эйфелева башня (21019) [12/72] The architect

The Architect

Born on December 15, 1832, in Dijon, Gustave Eiﬀ el was an exceptionally

gifted engineer and builder. He graduated from the École Centrale des

Arts et Manufactures in 1855, the same year that Paris hosted the ﬁ rst

World’s Fair. He spent several years in southwestern France, where he

supervised work on the great railway bridge in Bordeaux. In 1864, he

set up in his own right as a “constructor,” specializing in metal structural

work.

Eiﬀ el would go on to build hundreds of diﬀ erent types of metal structures

all around the world. Bridges, particularly railway bridges, were his

favorite ﬁ eld of work, but he also won renown for his metal structural

work and industrial installations. His career was marked by a large

number of ﬁ ne structures and buildings, two of the most outstanding

being the twin ediﬁ ces of the Porto viaduct and the Garabit viaduct in

the Cantal region of France.

Equally outstanding are the other structures where the pure inventiveness

of Eiﬀ el’s company was allowed free rein, such as the “portable”

bridges sold around the world as “kits,” and the ingenious structure

of the Statue of Liberty in New

York. His entrepreneurial career

culminated in 1889 with the

completion of the Eiﬀ el Tower.

Two years earlier, in 1887, Eiﬀ el

had agreed to build the locks

of the Panama Canal. It was an

immense undertaking, but the

project was badly managed

and went on to become one of

the biggest ﬁ nancial scandals

of the century.

After clearing his name, Eiﬀ el

retired to devote the ﬁ nal thirty

years of his life to scientiﬁ c

research. He died on December 27,

1923, at the age of 91.

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