Built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World Fair, held to commemorate the centennial of the Revolution, the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) was the world's tallest structure at 1,050 feet (320 m) until Manhattan's Chrysler Building was completed.Initially opposed by Paris' artistic and literary elite, the Eiffel Tower was almost torn down in 1909. The tower's salvation came when it proved an ideal platform for the antennas needed for the new science of radiotelegraphy.