Built in the 1950s and finished in 1960, Tower 13 was originally a 10-story brick and cement residential building in a low-income housing project.

Mehdi Ben Cheikh, who learned of Tower 13's planned demolition because he lived in the surrounding neighbourhood of Paris, is a Tunisian-born art teacher and founder of the Galerie Itinerrance.

[3] Recognising the potential of the building as a venue for hosting street artists, he obtained the rights for an art exhibition in the tower as part of a collaboration with Jérôme Coumet, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement of Paris.

"[1] Cheikh spent six months recruiting 80 street artists from 18 countries to decorate the interior and exterior of the building.

"[1] Notable artists who worked on Tower 13 include EL Seed, A1one, Guy Denning, C215, 108, and Add Fuel.

The demolition used the technique of grignotage, which involves the deployment of specialised machinery to bring down the building slowly, without recourse to explosives.