I just discovered something fascinating about the Eiffel Tower that you probably didn't know. For over a hundred years, there was a completely hidden private apartment at the top of this Parisian icon, more than 300 meters above the city streets. And the most interesting part is that the creator of the Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel, designed it specifically for himself.

It turns out that when Eiffel planned this monument for the 1889 Universal Exposition, he didn't just think of a structure for the public to admire. The engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower also reserved a private space of about 100 square meters on the upper floor. It had a bathroom, a kitchen, and custom furniture made by cabinetmaker Jean Lachaise, but curiously no bedroom. This suggests that Eiffel never spent nights there.

The office mainly served as an observation point for meteorological experiments and studies on air resistance. But it also functioned as a reception room for journalists and influential personalities of the time. The fascinating part is that Eiffel rejected all the millionaire offers from Parisian elites who wanted to rent the space. He simply didn't do it.

Construction began in January 1887 and was completed in March 1889, after winning a contest with over a hundred proposals. Weighing 10,100 tons, it became the tallest structure ever built up to that point. From the beginning, it was conceived as a public attraction, with the upper floor accessible to visitors. Today, nearly seven million people climb its 1,665 steps each year.

But the private apartment of the engineer who created the Eiffel Tower remained reserved and became a meeting place for illustrious figures. In September 1889, Thomas Edison personally visited the facilities and gifted Eiffel one of his patented phonographs, a precursor to the gramophone. The visit was recorded in the Department's Golden Book, where Edison praised Eiffel as the brave builder of such a gigantic and original example of modern engineering. That book also contains signatures from members of European royal families, actress Sarah Bernhardt, artist Paul Gauguin, and businessman Buffalo Bill.

After Eiffel's death in 1923, the space was left empty until after World War II, when it began to be used as a storage area for television and telecommunications antenna equipment. Today, it houses technical facilities, although a small area has been recreated for historical purposes. The interior is not open to the public, but you can see wax figures representing Eiffel and Edison through the windows. QR codes distributed around the tower offer immersive experiences, including a 360-degree virtual tour of the apartment.

So if you dreamed of living in the most exclusive apartment in Paris, I have news for you: that space remains definitely off the market.