There was hell to pay in Paris when Gustave Eiffel built his 984-ft. tower for the Paris Exposition in 1889. There was still more when he did not tear it down afterward. Now the graceful Parisian skyline will be altered even more drasticallyby a proposed 55-story office building that will loom over Saint-Germain-des-Prés like an enormous elliptical cigarette case, dwarf Notre Dame and top out 20 feet higher than the lofty tip of Sacré-Coeur.
The 565-ft. skyscraper, constructed of concrete and glass trimmed with bronze-anodized aluminum, will form the central element in the $160 million Maine-Montparnasse redevelopment project being...