PARIS HAUSSMANN
1850-1910
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| AVENUE DE L'OPERA DURING HAUSSMANN WORKS |
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| AVENUE DE L'OPERA AFTER HAUSSMANN RENOVATION |
On the occasion of PARIS and HAUSSMANN exhibition, organized by Carnavalet Museum the Pavilion of the Arsenal (75004) hosts this exhibition and offers several lecture and walking events (7 urban walks to discover the Haussmannian Paris)
Organized by geographical quarters, these walks (whose function was predominant in the model of the city according to the prefect HAUSSMANN 1809-1891) question us on the stakes of the contemporary city
The origin of the project :
During his exile in England (1846-1848), Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was greatly impressed by the western districts of London; the reconstruction of british capital necessary after the great fire of 1666 had made this city a reference for hygiene and modern urbanism. The Emperor wanted to make Paris, which in the middle of the 19th century looked like the Middle Ages period: the streets were still dark, narrow and unhealthy, a city as prestigious as London. This would be the starting point of the new Prefect's action.
A little history :
In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte made himself emperor of France and set out on an ambitious project to make Paris the most beautiful city in the world. It was during Bonaparte’s reign that the Arc de Triumphe and many other monuments were built atop what had been, at the time, the outskirts of Paris. In 1851, Bonaparte’s nephew, Napoleon III, assumed the role as the country’s emperor and by 1852 he had hired Baron Haussmann to complete Bonaparte’s goal. Haussmann was commissioned to take the existing medieval city of Paris and modernize it for the rapidly changing contemporary world of technological advances.
The main idea of these enormous urban works was to allow a better flow of men and goods for better economic efficiency and on the other hand of air and water, in accordance with the Hygienist theories inherited from the Age of Enlightenment which were booming , notably in reaction to the cholera epidemic of 1832. This campaign was entitled "Paris embellished, Paris enlarged, Paris sanitized"
Large swaths of medieval Paris were demolished to make way for wide avenues, new buildings, and upgraded infrastructure. The city was also expanded, most noticeably to the west where new avenues were extended from the Arc de Triumph.
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| NEAR BASTILLE BOULEVARD HENRI IV BEFORE HAUSSMANN WORKS |
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| BOULEVARD HENRI IV AFTER HAUSSMANN RENOVATION |
Baron, being trained as an engineer of sorts, approached the project from the perspective of improving the city, not only aesthetically, but structurally. He wanted to make the city run smoother and work better for modern times.
It is estimated that the work of Baron Haussmann modified Paris to 60%: 18 000 houses were demolished between 1852 and 1868 (including 4 349 before the extension of the Paris boundaries in 1860), while 30 770 houses were recorded in 1851 In the Paris before the annexation of the adjoining communes.
In order to improve hygiene by the quality of air, according to the recommendations of his predecessor, Prefect Rambuteau, he set up a number of parks and gardens: a square was created for each district of Paris, as well as the Parc Montsouris and the Parc des Buttes Chaumont.
The “Haussmann” adjective also refers to the method of urbanism by destroying old neighborhoods, and the construction of wide and straight arteries that constitutes the urbanism of Haussmann.
Outside France, several capitals: Vienna, Brussels, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid and Stockholm are inspired by his ideas with the ambition of becoming a new Paris. He also traveled in Istanbul and Cairo.
At about the same time, NEW YORK was built on a Hippodamian plane (1811)
It was during the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 that New York City adopted the grid pattern of the streets of North Manhattan. The purpose of this governmental decision, which stipulates the division of the city into twelve avenues from north to south and one hundred fifty-five streets from east to west, is mainly economic, the aim being to control the anarchic growth of the city and in particular of its real estate sector.
Haussmann is working on a global renovation of Paris with wide breakout and new perspective where the buildings form islets (with inner courtyards which allow to hide the constitutive mess , inherited from medieval constraints, contrasting with the aesthetic and regularity of the facades)
Let’s remember that there was no water in the apartments at that time : water was found at fountains, in the courtyards
Building and facades
Avenue de l’OPERA : Unlike most Parisian avenues, there are no trees. This was the result of a compromise between Haussmann and Charles Garnier, the architect of the OPERA house, who desired the best view possible of the main facade of the Opera at the end of the avenue. He did not want the view to be obstructed by the leaves and branches.
The facade of the Haussmann building symbolizes a brand image In the 19th century stone building while in the 18th century plaster building
The SEBASTOPOL boulevard was inaugurated as a play with a curtain raiser and the inhabitants were able to discover the perspective of the facades of the BUILDINGS
Staging and communication already existed at the time!
These buildings already existed although different from the Historic Monuments (whose concept was created in 1810) revealing a Paris offering an harmonious unity, avenues and wide boulevards 33 meters maximum, bringing a coherent overall vision even if behind these facades there is sometimes a certain disorder resulting from the vestiges of the Middle Ages
The concept of apartment building
Haussmann vision and concept for his new city brings out the new function of apartments building, which are rent by bourgeois and middle-class persons, all living in apartment fitted out in the same way
In these properties coexist two different and separate worlds : the middle-class or bourgeois and the domestic which never happen to meet in the staircase : for a simple reason : they do not use the same !
The upper floors are intended for workers and maids, the noble floor remind the splendor of classic aesthetic and pompous decoration though marble fireplace, wooden parquet and molding, which tends to show an excess of representation, as aristocratic castles did in their times
This difference of class living in the same properties express a tangible change in French society : there are no more titles for nobility only deeds titles !
Sewer and street light
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| STREET LIGHT AT TUILERIES GARDEN |
Eugene BELGRAND worked, under the leadership of Haussmann in harmony with hygiene theories to modernize the sewerage network, installing collectors under the newly drilled arteries, constraining building ( by the law of 1894 ) to discharge their storm water into the sewer system
From then no waste water should be discharged directly into the Seine, the sewers were pouring not anymore in Paris but down Clichy
The street lights allow Parisians to feel secure even at night as George Sand says
The numerous fountains, the kiosks, and the squares give to the City a special character almost romantic incensed in many novel, and later moovies
Strolling in Paris it’s being alive ! as Honoré de Balzac said
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