1

Georges-Eugène Haussmann

Name : Abdurrahman Hatem Tayeb I.D, : 1010314

AR320

AR320

Georges-Eugène Haussmann

Georges-Eugène Haussmann, circa 1865

Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann (French

pronunciation: .man], 27 March 1809 – 11 January 1891),

was the French civic planner most responsible for the rebuilding of Paris in the 1860s

at a cost of 2.5 billion francs. Critics forced his resignation for extravagence, but his

vision of the city still dominated central paris.

Rebuilding of Paris

Main article: Haussmann's renovation of Paris

Typical "Haussmannian" architecture he Boulevard de Sébastopol. Opened in 1858,

the boulevard runs through the heart of Paris

(Place Saint-Georges)

Commissioned by Napoleon III to instigate a program of planning reforms in Paris,[2]

Haussmann laid out the Bois de Boulogne, and made extensive improvements in the

smaller parks.[3]

The gardens of the Luxembourg Palace (Luxembourg Garden) were

cut down to allow the formation of new streets, and the Boulevard de Sebastopol, the

southern half of which is now the Boulevard St Michel, was driven through a

populous district. Additional, sweeping changes made wide "boulevards" of hitherto

narrow streets. A new water supply, a gigantic system of sewers, new bridges, the

opera house, and other public buildings, the inclusion of outlying districts – these

were among the new prefect's achievements, accomplished by the aid of a bold

handling of the public funds which called forth Jules Ferry's indictment, Les Comptes

fantastiques de Haussmann, in 1867 (a play on words between contes, stories or tales

– as in Les contes d'Hoffmann or Tales of Hoffmann, and comptes, accounts.)

"Baron Haussmann"

For his work, Haussmann received many honours (see below), he was however never

formally ennobled. In later life, he nonetheless became known as Baron Haussmann.

According to his memoirs,[4]

Haussmann's use of the title baron was based on his

elevation to the Senate and to an 1857 decree of the emperor's that gave Senate

members the title of baron; his memoirs further stated that he joked that he might

consider the title aqueduc, (a pun on the French words for 'duke' and 'aqueduct') but

that no such title existed. However, the Dictionary of the Second Empire states that

Haussmann used the title of baron casually, out of pride as the only male descendant

of his maternal grandfather, Georges Frédéric, Baron Dentzel, a general under the first

Napoleon. This use of baron, however, was not official, and he remained, legally,

merely Monsieur Haussmann.[5]

Honours

Haussmann had been made senator in 1857, member of the Academy of Fine Arts in

1867, and grand cross of the Legion of Honour in 1862. His name is preserved in the

Boulevard Haussmann. His later years were occupied with the preparation of his

Mémoires (3 vols., 1890–1893).

Haussmann's works

Rebuilding of Paris

Main article: Haussmann's renovation of Paris

Between the Revolution of 1789 and Haussmann's renovation of Paris in the 1860s,

ideals changed from those of a politically motivated city to those of an economically

and socially centered city. Modern technology such as railroads and gas lamps were

conveniences which the rising bourgeoisie could enjoy in their leisurely lifestyle. New

spaces that were created during the renovation encouraged the bourgeoisie to flaunt

their new wealth, creating a booming economy. All of these examples of the changes

occurring in Paris during this period can be seen in representations of the city. There

are two views of Baron Haussmann: One depicts him as the man who destroyed Old

Paris, and the other as the man who created New Paris.

Avenue de la Grande Armée, one of Haussmann's twelve grand avenues radiating

from the Arc de Triomphe. La Défense and the Grande Arche (the hollow white cube)

can be seen on the horizon.

Haussmann was hired by Napoleon III on 22 June 1852 to "modernize" Paris.

Napoleon hoped in hiring Haussmann that Paris could be moulded into a city with

safer streets, better housing, more sanitary, hospitable, shopper-friendly communities,

better traffic flow, and, last but not least, streets too broad for rebels to build

barricades across them and where coherent battalions and artillery could circulate

easily if need be.[6]

He created broad avenues linked to the main train-stations so army

troops from the provinces could be operative in a short amount of time (for example,

the boulevard de Strasbourg near Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord). This work

achieved during the Second Empire is one of the causes of the quick repression of the

1871 Paris Commune: since the 1848 revolution, Adolphe Thiers had become

obsessed with crushing out the next foreseeable Parisian rebellion. Thus, he planned

to leave the city and retreat, in order to better take it back with more military forces.[3]

Haussmann's design of streets and avenues, combined with the new importance given

to trains, made this plan more than successful, and Adolphe Thiers easily crushed the

Communards. Haussmann accomplished much of this by tearing up many of the old,

twisting streets and rundown apartment houses, and replacing them with the wide,

tree-lined boulevards and expansive gardens for which Paris is famous today. Other

elements of Haussman's plan included uniform building heights, grand boulevards,

and anchoring elements including the Arc de Triomphe and the Grand Opera House.

Haussmann's plan for Paris inspired some of the most important architectural

movements including the City Beautiful Movement in the United States. In fact,

renowned American architect Daniel Burnham borrowed liberally from Haussmann's

plan and even incorporated the diagonal street designs in his 1909 Plan of Chicago.

Cities like London and Moscow also have Haussmann influences in their city plans.

Historian Shelley Rice, in her book Parisian Views writes that "most Parisians during

[the first half of the nineteenth century] perceived [the streets] as dirty, crowded, and

unhealthy . . . Covered with mud and makeshift shanties, damp and fetid, filled with

the signs of poverty as well as the signs of garbage and waste left there by the

inadequate and faulty sewer system . . ." (p. 9). For these people, Haussmann was

performing a much needed service to the city and to France.

How ugly Paris seems after a year's absence. How one chokes in these dark, narrow

and dank corridors that we like to call the streets of Paris! One would think that one

was in a subterranean city, that's how heavy is the atmosphere, how profound is the

darkness!

—the Vicomte de Launay, 1838 (as quoted in Rice, p. 9)

It should be noted, however, that the people who suffered most from the medieval

living conditions were often exiled to the suburbs by Haussmannization, since slums

The Île de la Cité and its medieval surroundings before the Haussmann works

(Vaugondy map of 1771)

The Île de la Cité transformed by Haussmann: new transverse streets (red), public

spaces (light blue) and buildings (dark blue).

were cleared away and replaced with bourgeois apartments

. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte:

Le Marais was one of the rare neighbourhoods almost completely untouched by the

Haussmann renovations (pictured: Hôtel de Sens).

The plan unfolds

The main lines created or transformed between 1850 and 1870 in the centre of Paris

The plans were a reflection of the Empire's evolution: authoritarian until 1859, and

more flexible after 1860. 20,000 houses were destroyed, and over 40,000 built

between 1852 and 1872.

Some of these projects were to continue under the Third Republic, after Haussmann

and Napoleon III had stepped down

The north-south and east-west openings

The avenue de l'Opéra as seen by Pissarro when standing by the Comédie-Française

A third network: the outside arrondissements

The avenue des Gobelins and a view of

the PanthéonOpéra Garnier

Haussmann had the Gare de Lyon reconstructed in 1855 and the Gare du Nord in

1865.

In the last years of his term, Haussmann began to imagine turning the outside towns

annexed in 1860 into arrondissements (districts).

Monuments

The mairie (town hall) of the XIIIe arrondissement

Modern public facilities

The renovation of Paris was meant to be total. Cleaning up living areas implied not

only a better air circulation but also better provision of water and better evacuation of

waste.

The N of Napoléon III on the pont Saint-Michel (St Michael bridge)

In 1852, drinking water in Paris came mainly from the Ourcq, a tributary of the Marne

Paris expands

The twelve arrondissements of pre-1860 Paris

shown within the limits of the expanded city.

In 1860, Paris absorbed the communities outside its gates up to the enceinte de Thiers.

The old twelve arrondissements became the new twenty arrondissements. See also

Arrondissements of Paris.

Legacy

Panoramic view over the western side of Paris, at dusk, from the top of the Tour

Montparnasse.