Dizzying Spiral Staircase with Single Guardrail Once Led to Top of Eiffel Tower

When Gustave Eiffel, the famous French engineer, designed the Eiffel Tower in the late 19th century, he added a 1,076-square-foot private office just above the top floor. It featured a couch, a table, three desks, a kitchen and a bathroom. Eiffel climbed a narrow spiral staircase to reach the space, where he enjoyed unparalleled views of the city as he worked.

Now, a section of the original staircase is heading to auction. The French auction house Artcurial will sell the fragment on May 21, and officials expect it to fetch between $141,000 and $176,000.

“Imagine yourself in 1889 on this staircase, perched between [371 and 906 feet] high, with no safety barriers, but with a 360-degree view of Paris,” Sabrina Dolla, an associate director at Artcurial, tells CNN’s Lianne Kolirin.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris World’s Fair, held on the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. At first, the design was controversial, with one critic condemning it as a “truly tragic street lamp.” Others worried about a series of unlikely outcomes, including the possibility that electricity from the tower might electrocute the fish in the Seine River.

At 1,024 feet, the tower was then the tallest structure in the world—a record it would retain until the Chrysler Building overtook it in 1929. Eiffel’s contract dictated that the structure would stay up for only 20 years. When the end of that period drew near, the engineer pushed to extend it, arguing that the tower could be used for scientific experiments.

“It gradually became more and more part of the landscape, and it became very hard to imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower,” Savin Yeatman-Eiffel, Eiffel’s great-great-great-grandson, told Architectural Digest’s Morgan Goldberg in 2024. “It’s become the symbol of Paris, and of France as well.”

Quick facts: The Eiffel Tower at the Olympics

• During the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, athletes received gold, silver and bronze medals that included pieces of scrap iron from the Eiffel Tower.
• The fragments, once part of the tower’s original iron, were removed during later renovations.

The structure features three main floors. The first floor and second floor include several popular dining spots. On the top floor, visitors can enjoy sweeping views of Paris. They can also see a reconstruction of Eiffel’s office, featuring wax models of the engineer; his eldest daughter, Claire; and the American inventor Thomas Edison, who once presented Eiffel with a gramophone.

Elevators have operated at the Eiffel Tower since May 26, 1889. Visitors also had the option to take the stairs between the ground level and first floor (360 steps) and between the first and second floors (380 steps). A narrow spiral staircase (1,062 steps) featuring a single guardrail connected the second and third floors. Although Artcurial says this staircase was open to visitors, other sources suggest it was off limits to the public.

Eiffel used his office on the third floor to work and entertain renowned guests. He asked visitors to sign his Golden Book, collecting signatures from the likes of Buffalo Bill, George I of Greece and Leopold II of Belgium.

Later, the staircases between the ground level and second floor were modified to make the climb more comfortable. Visitors can still walk on them today. But the spiral staircase between the second and third floors was dismantled in 1983, when new elevators were installed, and divided into 24 sections. One of those pieces is on display on the tower’s first floor, while several others can be seen at French museums such as the Musée d’Orsay. Still others, including one at the Statue of Liberty, are on display outside France.

But many, including the fragment coming to auction in May, are still in private hands. Made of steel and riveted sheet metal, this section is roughly nine feet tall and features 14 steps. Recently restored by Eiffel Tower maintenance workers, it’s currently owned by a French businessman who purchased it at the original sale in 1983.

“He’s enjoyed it long enough, and now his circumstances are taking him elsewhere,” Dolla tells Artnet’s Vittoria Benzine.

Over the years, Artcurial has sold several other sections of the staircase. The most expensive fragment fetched €523,800 ($556,000) in 2016.

“The battle over the phone and in the auction room for the stairs showed the profound attachment there is for a monument that is so emblematic of French culture,” auctioneer François Tajan said at the time. Tajan’s father, Jacques Tajan, presided over the 1983 sale.

The fragment going to auction in May isn’t expected to beat that price, though Dolla is hopeful about its prospects. She tells the New York Times’ Ana Castelain that officials have “every reason to be ambitious,” noting the fragment’s rich history and the interest that previous sales have generated.

Today, nearly seven million people tour the Eiffel Tower each year. According to the tower’s website, it’s the world’s most visited monument that charges an entrance fee. Since the structure opened in 1889, nearly 300 million people have ventured inside.