The Eiffel Tower was the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, the world's fair in Paris. Although originally slated to be demolished after 20 years, it still stands, 131 years later, recognizable to folks around the globe. Strange to think it could have been something completely different.
Gustave Eiffel’s Tower was just one of 300 to 700 submitted pitches (estimates vary) vying to be Paris’ world’s fair centerpiece.
Yet the spire that was ultimately erected on the Champ de Mars was an order of magnitude less audacious than one of the most peculiar also-rans: a 1,000-foot-tall guillotine that would have commemorated France’s headless-horseman history, when at least 17,000 people were guillotined during the Reign of Terror, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Little is recorded of the ornamental, Godzilla-sized pillar with a blade — no contemporary illustrations, no manifesto behind its conception, no specs on the size of the cutting edge, only enough stray details to tease us with what might have been.
One can hardly imagine such a structure becoming a permanent part of the Paris skyline. The Eiffel Tower is just one of many iconic buildings that originated from world's fairs, and others were also in competition against some really strange alternatives. Read about the weirdest of those competitors at Ozy. -via Digg