The famously unloved skyscraper is getting glass cladding, a rooftop farm and a replanted plaza with 1,000 trees, raising the question of whether Paris can learn to love the building it has derided for half a century
The Ugly Duckling Of Paris
PARIS. The Montparnasse Tower closed in March for a two-year, 700 million euro makeover, according to France Today on what’s new in Paris in 2026. Plans include glass cladding, a rooftop farm and a replanted plaza with 1,000 new trees. The tower, which opened in the 1970s and long held the title of tallest building in Paris proper, has been a target of Parisian scorn for most of its life.
For half a century, Parisians have repeated the same joke: the best view in Paris is from the top of the Montparnasse Tower, because it is the only place in the city from which you cannot see the Montparnasse Tower. Now, with a makeover costing roughly the gross domestic product of a small island nation, the tower hopes to become something Paris has never let it be: liked.
A Farm In The Sky
The rooftop farm has generated particular excitement. A market gardener from the Ile-de-France countryside said she was intrigued. I grow lettuce in a field, she said. They want to grow lettuce two hundred metres up in the wind. It is ambitious. The lettuce will need a hard hat. But if it works, it will be the first lettuce in history with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It will be very arrogant.
A chef in the 14th arrondissement has already started planning a menu. Tomatoes from the top of Montparnasse, herbs from the 59th floor, he said. I will charge extra for the altitude. Parisians will pay. They always pay for a story.
The Glass Coat
The glass cladding is intended to lighten the tower’s heavy, dark silhouette. Architecture critics are cautiously optimistic. A professor of architecture in Paris compared the project to a celebrity makeover. The building has been told for fifty years that it is ugly, she said. Now it is getting new clothes, new skin and a garden on its head. It is the architectural equivalent of a dramatic haircut after a breakup. We will see if it works. Sometimes it does.
Trees At Last
The replanted plaza with 1,000 trees fits a broader effort in Paris to green its public spaces. Residents of the neighbourhood, who have long crossed a windswept concrete esplanade on their way to the station, welcome the change. A commuter who passes daily said the plaza had always felt like an airport runway. With a thousand trees, she said, it might feel like a park. Or at least like a runway with shade.
Can Paris Change Its Mind?
Parisians are not known for changing their opinions quickly. The Eiffel Tower was famously criticised by artists and intellectuals when it was built, and the Centre Pompidou and the Louvre Pyramid both provoked outrage before becoming beloved landmarks. A historian of Paris believes the Montparnasse Tower could follow the same path. Paris hates everything new, he said. Then, about thirty years later, it decides it loved it all along and pretends it never complained. The tower has been waiting fifty years. It is overdue.
The Last Word
Outside the scaffolding, an elderly Parisian stood with his hands behind his back, studying the tower as he had for decades. A young woman beside him asked if he thought he would like it after the renovation. He considered the question with great seriousness. Perhaps, he said. But I will still say I preferred it before. She frowned. But you hated it before. He nodded. Exactly, he said. That is how one becomes a true Parisian.