A rare piece of Parisian history is going under the hammer: memorabilia and furnishings connected to Gustave Eiffel's private apartment, located near the summit of the iconic Eiffel Tower. The apartment, situated on the tower's third floor at roughly 300 metres above ground, was built by Eiffel himself as a personal retreat and was famously off-limits to the public during his lifetime.
Gustave Eiffel constructed the small apartment around 1889, the same year the tower was completed for the Paris World's Fair. He used it to entertain distinguished guests, including the American inventor Thomas Edison. The apartment features period furniture, wallpaper, and decorative details that have been preserved as a historical exhibit open to visitors in recent years.
Items associated with the apartment and the tower's history have periodically appeared at auction houses, attracting significant interest from collectors and institutions worldwide. Original documents, engineering drawings, and decorative objects linked to the tower's construction have fetched considerable sums at previous sales.
The Eiffel Tower itself remains the property of the City of Paris and is managed by the Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE). No part of the physical structure is for private sale. However, auctions of Eiffel-related artefacts and memorabilia continue to draw global attention, reflecting the enduring fascination with one of the world's most recognised landmarks, which welcomed approximately 5.9 million visitors in 2024.
