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Lighthouse of the world Phare Du Monde
Artist's impression of the "Lighthouse of the world"
General information
Status	Vision
Estimated completion	Never begun
Height
Tip	701 metres (2,300 ft)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Eugène Freyssinet

Phare du Monde ("Lighthouse of the world") was an observation tower planned for the 1937 World Fair in Paris, France. The Phare du Monde, advertised as a "Pleasure Tower Half Mile High" was designed by Eugène Freyssinet, and was to be a 701-metre (2,300 feet) tall concrete tower with a light beacon and a restaurant on the top. A spiralling road on the outside of the tower shaft was to be built for driving access to a height of 1,640 feet (500 m), to a parking garage for 500 cars. This focus on the car in such an eye-catching construction has been seen as proof of the car (by 1939) having become "the primary force in determining the appearance of the ordinary landscape of cities." The costs were estimated to have been $2.5 million; it was never built.

References

1. "Pleasure Tower Half Mile High". Architectural Record: 41. 1934.
2. Tauranac, John (1997). The Empire State Building: the making of a landmark. MacMillan. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-312-14824-9.
3. Relph, E.C. (1987). The modern urban landscape. JHU Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8018-3560-5.
4. "Fiction: Les urbanistes des années 30 imaginaient nos villes pousser à la verticale de façon illimitée". Le Matin. 2001-12-30. Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2009-06-23.

External links

• Expotuerme: Towers designed for World Fairs

• Unbuilt buildings and structures in France
• Towers in Paris
• World's fair architecture in Paris
• Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne
• Lighthouses in France