Eiffel Tower Building in New York City was topped out. The tower has lost its standing both as the world's tallest structure and the world's tallest lattice tower but retains its status as the tallest freestanding (non-guyed) structure in France. Notes Bibliography Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Constructed from 1887–1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for
Eiffel Tower record their impressions of the tower. Gustave Eiffel described some of the responses as "vraiment curieuse" ("truly curious"). Famous visitors to the tower included the Prince of Wales, Sarah Bernhardt, "Buffalo Bill" Cody (his Wild West show was an attraction at the exposition) and Thomas Edison. Eiffel invited Edison to his private apartment at the top of the tower, where Edison presented him with one of his phonographs, a new invention and one of the many highlights of the exposition. Edison signed the guestbook with this message: Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years. It