Overview
During the 19th century, Paris was under the authority of leaders with distinct visions for the city’s growth and evolution. In 1848, Louis-Napoleon III became president of the French Second Republic and on December 2, 1851, because of limitations from the French Constitution and Parliament to run a second term, founded the Second Empire and continued as Paris’ Emperor. Napoleon III was determined to transform Paris from a medieval city into a modern one. Napoleon III’s modern vision of Paris included wide boulevards to support economic activity and monumental attractions that reiterated his authority. Napoleon III commissioned Georges-Eugène Haussmann as his Prefect of Seine; originally a beaurocrat with no training as an architect who favored functionality and Baroque influences. Napoleon III and Haussmann’s vision of a modern Paris distinctly contrasts the ideas of early twentieth century modernism in that their goal was to achieve a city of imperial monumentality and economic activity, as opposed to one displaying truth to materials and serving the working-class. Modernism is aimed to be anti-monumental and anti-bourgeoisie; Napoleon III and Haussmann’s modern Paris was for the bourgeoisie. However in order to achieve this, they believed in order and efficiency in function-- similar to twentieth century modernism. Ultimately, Napoleon’s approval of monuments dedicated to him and the grand scale of his Paris led to a very different interpretation of modernism, one that was influenced by Baroque grandeur from the past. Most notably, Haussmann's legacy in Paris is apparent in the transformation of circulation, infrastructure and public space and in the bourgeoisification of the city center.
Background
Background on Haussmann
Background on Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, as shown in Figure I, was born in Paris on March 27, 1809 in a home he later had demolished to make way for Boulevard Haussmann. [1] Haussmann was educated as a lawyer at collège Henri IV and at the University of Paris. After his education Haussmann did not have clear career direction, but as an ally to the liberal opposition of King Charles X, chose to become an active proponent of the movement. His actions were noticed and as a result, Haussmann was appointed a member of the Prefectoral Corps, that was founded by Napoleon in 1800, as a Sub Prefect to the Secretary General of the Prefecture of Vienne at the city of Poitiers. [2] The Prefectoral Corps were the basis of civil administration in France that were responsible for overseeing local affairs and supervising communes, the smallest French territorial division. After a short time in Poitiers, Haussmann spent the next seventeen years in Sub Prefectures in the cities of Yssingeaux, Nérac, St. Girons and Blaye. In 1838 while in Nérac, he married a Protestant woman from Bordeaux. Haussmann advanced professionally when he was appointed Sub Prefect of Blaye, an arrondissement then dependant on Bordeaux, where with guiding superiors and marital connections, Haussmann became socially influential. [2] Haussmann reportedly worked well as a bureaucratic administrator as he believed in the potential of administration to solve problems of Paris.
Figure I: Georges Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891) [I]
Haussmann and Napoleon III
After the revolution of 1848, Haussmann noticed the political significance of Napoleon’s nephew, Louis-Napoleon III and strategized for his next career move to be affiliated with Louis-Napoleon III. Following the revolution, Louis-Napoleon III won the presidential election of the Second Republic and on January 1849 summoned Haussmann. Haussmann began, now as Prefect, in the French Departments of Var and of Yon where he spent his efforts mediating Louis-Napoleon III’s plan of transforming the Second Republic into the Second Empire with the public. In December 1851, Louis-Napoleon III overturned the Second Republic and became Emperor Napoleon III of the Second Empire. By June 1853 Napoleon III was ready to continue his uncle, Napoleon I’s, work in transforming Paris into a modern city worthy of a capital. [3] Napoleon III called on Haussmann to be his Prefect of the Seine, a prestigious position where in terms of public policy, heads both the Department and the municipality of Paris itself. [2] The Seine Department was the center of political and economic activity and the Prefect of Seine is a position of great influence and authority. When Haussmann first met with Napoleon III as Prefect of Seine, the emperor handed him a map of Paris he created on which he had drawn in the streets that he proposed to build. [4] This map then became the basic plan guiding the transformation of Paris. The motives behind Napoleon III's transformation are controversial; whatever the true reason, the new urban form allowed social control via the organization and rationalization of space
Resources
1. Jordan, David P. "The City: Baron Haussmann and Modern Paris." The American Scholar 61, no. 1 (1992): 99-106. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41211982.
2. Chapman, Brian. “Baron Haussmann and the planning of Paris.” The Town Planning Review 24, no. 3 (1953): 177-196. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1302047120?accountid=14945
3. Kirkland, Stephanie Paris Reborn: Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2013.
4. Pinkney, David H., “Napoleon III’s Transformation of Paris: The Origins and Development of the Idea.” The Journal of Modern History 27, no. 2 (1955): 125-134. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1874987
Images
I. Georges Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891). 1860. In Grande Chancellerie De La Légion D'Honneur. http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/fr/decores/georges-eugene-haussmann/129.