page_title: Perret tower (Grenoble)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Perret tower (Grenoble) / History
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Affiche de la société des chemins de fer PLM pour l'exposition internationale de la houille blanche et du tourisme, Grenoble, 1925.
context_page_description: The Perret tower, originally called La tour pour regarder les montagnes, is an observation tower located in Grenoble, in the Paul Mistral public park. It is the first tower built in reinforced concrete in Europe. In 1998, it was officially declared to be a national heritage site. It was built for the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism where it was the orientation tower and the symbol of the exhibition. Nowadays, it is the last vestige of this exhibition.
context_section_description: It was erected from 20 May 1924 to 4 May 1925 by the architect Auguste Perret who won a competition sponsored by the city for the exhibition, which took place between 21 May and 25 October 1925. The International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism focused on the production, transport and broadcast of electricity as well as tourism which was the No. 2 economic resource in the Alps at the beginning of the century. During the exhibition, a floodlight was installed at the top to light the buildings.
  On 6 September 1925, the exhibition was opened by Prime Minister Paul Painlevé, Édouard Herriot and André Hesse. The same day, more than 2,000 visitors reached the top of the tower by using the two elevators which drop them off to the orientation platform located at 60 metres (200 ft) height. At lunch, Herriot and Hesse went down last and got stuck in an elevator, and the tower staff did not notice, creating some panic among the police services.
  The International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism was a success. More than one million persons came to the city of 85,000 inhabitants, which got benefits in spite of the huge works undertaken.
  In 1929, an antenna was installed at the top of the tower to broadcast radio programmes of the channel "Alpes-Grenoble".
  Nowadays, Perret Tower is the only remnant of the exhibition. This tower allowed Perret to prove the huge ability of reinforced concrete and make him famous as a great architect.
caption: Poster of the PLM railway company for the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism in 1925: at the centre the Perret tower, on the right tourism palace, on the left the railway and tourism industry palace along the Jean Pain boulevard
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