Haussmannization of Paris
Style Influences
Haussmann’s designs display Baroque Era influences; particularly in their grand scale, high ornamentation and use of the boulevard. The Baroque style developed at the turn of the nineteenth century with the shift in dominating power of the church to dominating power of the city state. Dominating authority of the city state aimed to impose order and efficiency and reified this aim through urban space. Space became conceptualized in terms of how to move quickly and how to display the city state’s authority. This is where Haussmann’s street projects and monument incorporation connect with the Baroque style. Although in the birthplace of Gothic architecture, gothic architecture was primarily used in France for abbeys, churches and castles. Haussmann’s goal with Paris was go display state authority like with Baroque architecture, but apply a more modern twist. Haussmann reiterated imperial influence through the use of monuments; an example of this is the Opéra Garnier, as shown in Figures II and III. Built from 1861 to 1875, the Opéra Garnier was the most expensive building built during the Second Empire. An example of Baroque architecture, the building included a symmetric design and the initials of Napoleon III and his wife, Empress Eugénie. Baroque style aims to be more forceful and pronounced of its wealth.
Figure II: Theater of the Opera Second Hall of the Palais Royal, 1781 [II]
Figure III: Modern day Opéra National de Paris [III]
Elements of the Baroque style also include broad, straight avenues to facilitate military movement and provide space to manor house and flash the military in front of the city. Haussmann’s aesthetic preferences included broad streets that lead the eye to a grand view, order in spatial organization and uniformity in building facades. [1]
Design of Buildings
During the two decades following Haussmann’s appointment, Paris was under significant reconstruction where 60% of buildings were rebuilt. Between 1850 and 1870, the quantities of brick, quarried stone and cut stone imports rose exponentially, as pictured in Figure IV. In total, 20,000 buildings were demolished and 40,000 were built, and with Haussmann’s affinity to grandeur and ornamentation, drove the rents in these now desirable areas up. [5]
Typical Haussmann apartment buildings were constructed of cut stone and stood in a straight line, all with uniform facades. Apartment buildings were usually seven stories high with the second and fifth story including balconies. Haussmann also incorporated mansard roofs, that were not as spacious but optimized living space. [5] Figure V shows an apartment five stories high and with a mansard roof and a balcony on the second floor.
Medieval Paris was congestion and had poor sanitation measures. An 1827 city report noted, " the sense of smell gives notice that you are approaching the first city in the world before your eyes could see the tips of its monuments." [VI] Cholera outbreaks from 1832-1835 and from 1848-1849 spread panic in sanitation of the city. This influenced the construction of many buildings to include terraces, loggias as they facilitated access to open air. [6]
Images below provide greater understanding of building design:
Figure IV: Imports of Building Materials Into Paris [IV]
Figure V: 1852 Haussmann style apartment building [V]
Figure VI: Rue De La Bûcherie, Du Cul De Sac Saint-Ambroise (fifth Arrondissement). 1866–1868.
The trickle of shimmering liquid on the paving stones in this view is not what it seems. The streets of Old Paris were notoriously filthy and frequently full of raw sewage [VI]
Figure VIII: Façade and layout for new apartment building on Haussmann's boulevards [VII]
Figure VII: Façade and layout for new apartment building on Haussmann's boulevards [VII]
Sewer System
Another aspect of Haussmann’s task in modernizing Paris into the 19th century included the expansion of the sewer system. In 1857, Haussmann and chief engineer Eugene Belgrand undertook the much needed task to upgrade the sewer system. Prior to Haussmann, much of the city was not connected to the sewer system and its ineffective design was unable to prevent water from flooding the streets. [6] By 1870, the sewer system expanded fourfold and consisted of 348 miles of sewers. Rising water usage and multiple cholera outbreaks pushed for the link between residences and the sewer system, but it was not until 1894 that this was made mandatory. [6]
Figure IX: Above and below the streets of Paris. Cross-section of Haussmann's boulevards, exposing the new networks of sewer, gas and water lines that helped modernize and sanitize the city. [VII]
Circulation
Haussmann boulevards: Haussmann’s legacy largely includes the transformation of movement within Paris. He and Napoleon III alike had the goal to rid Paris of its narrow, winding roads and modernize the city with wide boulevards that connected Paris in an orderly and grand fashion. Motives for the creation of boulevards include social control, economic stimulation and public health. Haussmann's urbanistic ideal of streets was one that allowed pedestrian perspective of long streets with elegant views; it aligned with the nineteenth century trend of ornamenting technical exigencies. [7] Boulevards were very new to the city and their completion, they were covered then unveiled like monuments. [7]
Boulevards became an iconic element of Paris that can be seen in the artwork of painters like Camille Pissarro and Gustave Caillebotte pictured below.
Figure XI: The Boulevard Montmartre at Night. 1897 [VIII]
Figure X: L'Avenue de l'Opéra, one of Haussmann's "grands boulevards." [VII]
Figure XII: Paris Street; Rainy Day. 1877 [IX]
Aside from the grandeur and iconography boulevard brought to Paris, they were also implemented strategically to eliminate previous challenges posed by narrow, winding streets. The strategic building of roads together with the siting of barracks was necessary for Haussmann to diminish the possibility of insurrection. [2] During the French Revolution, barricades were used to block military troops from entering and controlling spaces. Low accessibility also made narrow, winding streets hotspots for slums and crime; they were covert and not straightforward to direct through. Haussmann's responses included widening streets, situating barracks in direct proximity to “troublesome” areas and even demolishing some of these areas altogether. Furthermore, the narrow streets did not allow airflow of natural light into the streets. This was believed to be a health impediment and also a driving factor of multiple cholera outbreaks.
Figure XIII: Diagram of the Rue Saint-Denis, as renovated by Haussmann [X]
Additional reconstructions: [5]
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1854-1858 boulevard de Sébastopol improved N/S movement
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1858-1860 a network that included place de la République, the rue de Rome and boulevards linked around the Arc of Triomphe eased traffic flow out of the city
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Working-class neighborhood, Belleville, connected to industrial district Berry and 16th arrondissement connected to Arc de Triomphe area-- for the people
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Building of bridges across the Seine
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Rue de Rivoli extended
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
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
5. Knox, Paul. Atlas of Cities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.
6. Gandy, Matthew. "The Paris Sewers and the Rationalization of Urban Space." Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 24, no. 1 (1999): 23-44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/623339.
7. Benjamin, Walter. "Paris: Capital of the Nineteenth Century." Perspecta 12 (1969): 165-72. doi:10.2307/1566965.
Images
II.Theatre de l'Opera deuxième salle du Palais-Royal, incendie le 8 juin 1781. Digital image. Opéra National De Paris. Accessed July 30, 2018. https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/discover/the-paris-opera/history#slideshow_51/3.
III. Modern day Opéra National de Paris. Digital image. Opéra National De Paris. Accessed July 30, 2018. https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/discover/the-paris-opera/history#slideshow_51/3.
IV. Imports of Building Materials Into Paris. 2014 In Knox, Paul. Atlas of Cities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.
1852 cartoon showing the inside of the new George Haussmann style apartment building. Digital image. Lingo Page. February 18, 2017. Accessed July 30, 2018. http://lingopage.com/2017/02/18/book-review-paris-reborn/.
VI. Marville, Charles. Rue De La Bûcherie, Du Cul De Sac Saint-Ambroise (fifth Arrondissement). 1866–1868. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
VII. Wettlaufer, Alexandra. "Haussmann's Paris Architecture." 19th Century France: A Visual Resource. Accessed July 30, 2018. https://www.laits.utexas.edu/wettlaufer/architecture/
VIII. Pissarro, Camille. The Boulevard Montmartre at Night. 1897.
VIIII. Caillebotte, Gustave. Paris Street; Rainy Day. 1877.
X.Diagram of the Rue Saint-Denis, as renovated by Haussmann. Digital image. France in the Age of Les Miserables. May 2001. Accessed July 30, 2018. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/mapping-paris/Haussmann.html.