Fancy Owning A Segment of The Eiffel Tower’s Original Spiral Staircase?
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Francophiles have a chance to snap up a rare piece of Parisian history when a French auction house sells off an 8.5-foot chunk of the Eiffel Tower’s original, vertiginous spiral staircase.
This segment dates all the way back to the Eiffel Tower’s original construction in the late 1880s, ahead of the 1889 World’s Fair. It’s one of the last 8.5-foot tall chunks of the tower’s stairs still in private French hands and will be auctioned by Artcurial on 21 May and could fetch anything from $60,000 to $1,000,000.
French engineer Gustave Eiffel built his famous landmark with three main floors - with the top one housing his tiny secret apartment - that, in an era before elevators, were joined by spiral staircases. Perhaps he was an early proponent of the 10,000 steps mantra?
The stairs connecting the ground level with the tower’s second story have since been modified for enhanced safety and comfort. The stairs connecting the second and third floors, however, were taken out and replaced with modern elevators in 1983.
That’s when French officials chopped the 525-foot spiral staircase up into 24 parts. One 14-foot bit is showcased on the tower’s first floor. Three more were given to French institutions - the Musée d’Orsay and La Villette in Paris, and the Iron Museum in Jarville-la-Malgrange. The remaining 20 pieces were sold off in 1983 and are now scattered throughout the world.
In 2016, Artcurial sold another 8.5-foot piece for $607,320 after an intense bidding war, establishing the current record for most expensive Eiffel Tower stairs ever sold. Could the forthcoming auction achieve $1 million? OGN will let you know the final hammer price for this latest spiral chunk of iron.
Eiffel Tower Construction in Colour (Video): The story behind what would, at the time, become the world's tallest building.
