The turn Esso was one of the very first buildings built with Defense in the years 1960. It was destroyed in 1993 to be replaced by the tower Cœur Defense.

A pioneer of Defense

This building was pioneer with many point of view: first office building in France, it was built in the district of Defense in 1963, while at the same time the district of business was yet only one bet to be gained: only CNIT had been built before. The ground had been bought besides in 1957 by Esso, before even as EPAD does not exist.

Esso wished that its 1550 employees be able to work in a single building, comfortable and functional. This one included/understood one of the very first Self-service, a room air-conditioned for IBM calculators, a living room of rest, and even a cinema.

In 1993, the Esso tower was also the first tower of Defense to being destroyed. Today draws up on its site the tower Cœur Defense, finished in 2001.

Characteristics

• Architects: Greber, Lathrop and Douglas

• 11 stages
• 30.000 m ²
• central structure out of concrete concentrating the ascenceurs and the networks (electricity…) ; the frontages are metal curtain walls.
• built on the commune of Courbevoie, in sector 4 of Defense.

Anecdotes

• the district of Defense was badly served by public transport at the time. SNCF railway station of Defense not existing yet, the train of the line of Saint-Lazare let kill the employees from Esso to very the ways!

• When the Esso building was built, the flagstone pedestrian had not been carried out yet. The entry of the building was thus logically on the level of the ground. The flagstone, thereafter, was found on the level of the 3rd stage.

• the name of Esso was readable during a time in luminous letters on the frontage, the letters being carried out by lowering the curtains with the windows judiciously.

See too

• Esso
• Defense
• List of the buildings of Defense