Gallery of Machines

building, Paris, France

Also known as: Palais des Machines

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June 30, 2026

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The Gallery of Machines was a structure built for the Paris Exposition of 1889. It was designed by architect C.-L.-F. Dutert and engineer Victor Contamin. This building featured immense three-hinged arches spanning 114 meters (380 feet) and extended over 420 meters (1,400 feet). Its glass-enclosed clear span of 48,727 square meters (536,000 square feet) was unprecedented. Despite its architectural significance, no regular use was found for the building after the exposition, and it was demolished in 1910. The Gallery of Machines, along with the Eiffel Tower, showcased the advancements in steel building technology during the second industrial age.1

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Western architecture
Construction in iron and glass
In the Palais des Machines (at the 1889 exhibition) by Ferdinand Dutert and Victor Contamin, a series of three-hinged trussed arches sprang from small points across a huge space, 385 feet (117 metres) long and 150 feet (45 metres) high. Similar spaces had already been created in…
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In the Palais des Machines (at the 1889 exhibition) by Ferdinand Dutert and Victor Contamin, a series of three-hinged trussed arches sprang from small points across a huge space, 385 feet (117 metres) long and 150 feet (45 metres) high. Similar spaces had already been created in…
Read More

construction
Introduction of steel building technology
…the Eiffel Tower and the Gallery of Machines. Gustave Eiffel’s tower was 300 meters (1,000 feet) high, and its familiar parabolic curved form has become a symbol of Paris itself; its height was not exceeded until the topping off of the 318.8-meter- (1,046-foot-) tall Chrysler Building in New York City…
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…the Eiffel Tower and the Gallery of Machines. Gustave Eiffel’s tower was 300 meters (1,000 feet) high, and its familiar parabolic curved form has become a symbol of Paris itself; its height was not exceeded until the topping off of the 318.8-meter- (1,046-foot-) tall Chrysler Building in New York City…
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Gustave Eiffel
…and designed the lofty, arched Gallery of Machines for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. In 1877 he bridged the Douro River at Oporto, Port., with a 525-foot (160-metre) steel arch, which he followed with an even greater arch of the same type, the 540-foot (162-metre) span Garabit viaduct over the…
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…and designed the lofty, arched Gallery of Machines for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. In 1877 he bridged the Douro River at Oporto, Port., with a 525-foot (160-metre) steel arch, which he followed with an even greater arch of the same type, the 540-foot (162-metre) span Garabit viaduct over the…
Read More