Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan and Louis Hoÿm de Marien designed the Tour Maine-Montparnasse, with Jean Saubot assisting, and Campenon Bernard built it. Work began in 1968, after Malraux granted the building permit. The first stone was laid in 1970, and the tower was completed in 1973. It rises 689 feet (210 m) with 59 floors. The article does not name a style and calls the design simple, large in proportion and monolithic.
It was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, and it remains the tallest building in Paris proper. Foundations of 56 reinforced concrete pillars reach 230 feet (70 m) deep. The 56th-floor observation deck and a rooftop terrace look out up to 25 miles (40 km).
Two years after it was completed, new buildings over seven stories were banned in central Paris. A 2008 poll ranked it the second-ugliest building in the world. Nouvelle AOM won the 2017 competition to redesign its facade.
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