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The Haussmann Renovations, or Haussmannization of Paris was a work led under the initiative of Napoléon III and the Paris préfet, Haussmann, from 1852 to 1870.
The project encompassed all aspects of urban planning, both in the center of Paris and in the outside districts: streets and boulevards, regulations imposed on façades of buildings, public parks, sewers and water works, city facilities and public monuments.
Strongly criticized by some of its contemporaries, forgotten for a good part of the twentieth century, then redeemed when post-war urban planning became discredited, this work still plays a considerable role in the everyday lives of Parisians. It set the foundation of what is today the popular representation of the French capital around the world, by changing the old Paris with its picturesque alleyways into a modern city with wide avenues and open spaces.
1852: A Modern Emperor Faced With a Medieval Capital
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the center of Paris had the same structure as it did in the Middle Ages. The narrow interweaved streets and cramped buildings blocked the flow of traffic resulting in unhealthy conditions that were denounced by the first hygienists. One after the other, the different regimes pushed the outer limits of Paris to where they are today on the Paris périphérique (beltway), but none of them could change the heart of the capital. The Paris found in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) is little different from the one found in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831).
The First Attempts at Modernization
This issue was not new. In 1794, during the French Revolution, a "Commission of Artists" formed a project suggesting opening broader avenues in Paris, with a street making a straight line from Place de la Nation to the Louvre, where the Avenue Victoria is today. It anticipated the east-west main line and showed a will to bring the public monuments out.
Napoleon I commissioned the construction of a colossal street along the Jardin des Tuileries, the Rue de Rivoli, extended under the Second Empire up to the Châtelet and Rue Saint-Antoine: such a street was better adapted to traffic than the one designed by the Commission of Artists. It also served as the basis for a new legal tool: the servitude d'alignement which prevented real estate owners from renovating or rebuilding beyond a certain line drawn by the administration. However the law's objective of widening the streets within a reasonable period of time was not attained.
At the end of the 1830's, préfet Rambuteau realized that the problems regarding traffic and hygiene in the old overpopulated districts had become a cause for concern: in accordanace to the miasma theory of disease, it was important to "let air and men circulate". This conclusion was brought for by the 1832 cholera epidemic — 20 000 killed in Paris on a population of 650 000 * — and the new "social medecine" analyzed by Michel Foucault (which focused on flux, circulation of air, location of cemeteries, etc.) Préfet Rambuteau thus drew a first avenue in the center of Paris but the administration had limited powers due to the rules regulating expropriation. A new law passed on May 3rd 1841 attempted to solve this issue.
It was with this background that the Second Empire opted for a huge program of expropriation and clearances, much more costly than the servitude d'alignement, but also much more effective.
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
Elected president of the Republic of France in 1848, Napoleon's nephew became emperor on December 2nd 1852, one year after his coup. Under his new name, Napoléon III decided to modernize Paris after seeing London, a city transformed by the Industrial Revolution, comprising large public parks and a complete sewer system. Inspired by Rambuteau's ideas, and aware of social issues, he wished to improve the housing conditions of the lower class: in some neighborhoods, the population density reached numbers of 250,000 people per square mile, in conditions of very poor sanitation. The goal was also for public authority to better control a capital where several regimes had been overthrown since 1789. Some real-estate owners themselves demanded large, straight avenues to help troops maneuver Letter written by owners from the neighborhood of the Panthéon to préfet Berger in 1850, quoted in the Atlas du Paris haussmannien.
In order to satisfy his ambitions, the new emperor had a considerable amount of power at his disposal, enabling him to shrug off any resistance, something his predecessors lacked.
But Napoleon III still had to find a man capable of carrying out a project of such magnitude. He found such a man in Georges Eugène Haussmann, a man of action and rigor, known for being methodical, and nominated him préfet of the Seine in 1853. The two men formed an efficient team, the emperor supporting the préfet against his adversaries, and Haussmann showing loyalty in all circumstances, while promoting his own ideas such as a project for Boulevard Saint-Germain.
Such considerable work required many different collaborators. Victor de Persigny, Minister of the Interior, who introduced Haussmann to Napoleon, was in charge of the financial aspects, with the help of the Pereire brothers. Jean-Charles Alphand dealt with the parks and plantations of gardener Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps. Haussmann emphasized the fundamental role of Paris Map services, led by the architect Deschamps who was in charge of drawing the new avenues and enforcing the construction rules: in this area, "geometry and graphic design play a more important role than architecture itself", said Haussmann, Mémoires du Baron Haussmann. Other architects took part in the project: Victor Baltard at the Halles, Théodore Ballu for the Church of Trinity, Gabriel Davioud for the theaters on the Place du Châtelet, and veteran Jacques Ignace Hittorff for the Gare du Nord.
Collaboration Between Public Regulation and Private Initiatives
Inspired by Saint-Simonism, Napoleon III, and engineers such as Michel Chevalier or entrepreneurs like the Pereire brothers, believed that society could be transformed and poverty reduced by economic voluntarism (in the French sense of the word, as it is completely different in English), according to which the government should play an important part in economic affairs. It took a strong or even authoritarian regime to encourage capitalists in launching important projects that would benefit society as a whole, and particularly the poor. The heart of the economic system were the banks, which at the time underwent considerable expansion. The renovations of Paris matched this political orientation perfectly. Haussmann's projects would hence be decided and managed by the state, carried out by private entrepreneurs and financed with loans.
The Haussmann System
In a first step, the state expropriated those owners whose land stood in the way of the renovations. It then demolished the buildings and built new avenues fully equipped with water, natural gas and sewers. Unlike Rambuteau, Haussmann relied on massive loans to finance his operations, roughly 50 to 80 million francs a year. Starting in 1858, the Caisse des travaux de Paris became the main tool to back up the project. The state reimbursed the loans by selling the land, after dividing it in plots, to promoters who had to build according to a set of precise rules. This system allowed the city to devote each year a budget to the renovations twice that of the municipal budget.
But the system slowly started to show cracks. The massive loans from the Caisse amounted to a debt of 1.5 billion francs in 1870 and contributed to undermining the credibility of the renovations. Jules Ferry condemned this financial issue in a pamphlet published in 1867: Les comptes fantastiques d'Haussmann (the title is a pun, translating as The fantastic accounts of Haussmann, but homophonic with The fantastic tales of Haussmann/Hoffmann)Jules Ferry, Les comptes fantastiques d'Haussmann (Gallica)..
Public Regulations
Haussmann had the opportunity of working in a legislative and regulatory context that was modified specifically for the renovations. The decree of March 26th 1852 regarding the streets of Paris, passed one year before Haussmann's appointment, established the main judicial tools:- Expropriation "for purposes of public interest": the city could acquire buildings placed along the avenues to be constructed, whereas earlier it could only acquire the buildings placed directly on the future construction site. This would allow a considerable part of the Île de la Cité to be demolished. After 1860, the regime's more progressive stance made expropriations more difficult.
- Those who owned buildings were required to clean and refresh the facades every ten years.
- The leveling of the streets of Paris, the buildings' alignments and connections to the sewer were regulated.
The authorities intervened at the same time to regulate the dimensions of buildings and even on the aesthetic aspect of their frontages:
- The 1859 regulations for urban planning in Paris increased the maximum height of buildings from 17.55 meters (57.5 ft) to 20 meters (65.6 ft) in streets wider than 20 meters. The roofs needed to still have a 45 degree incline.
- Construction along the new avenues had to comply with a set of rules regarding outside appearance. Neighboring buildings had to have their floors at the same height, and the façades' main lines had to be the same. The use of quarry stone was mandatory along these avenues. Paris started to acquire the features of an immense palace.
Already, the central role played by the architects of the roads showed the importance of engineers as civil servants.
The Plan's Unfolding
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.
A Network of Large Avenues
When Rambuteau cleared the way for the first time in the city's history for a large avenue in the center of Paris, Parisians were surprised by its width of 13 meters (45 ft). But Haussmann made the Rue Rambuteau a moderate-sized street after creating new avenues up to 30 meters wide (100 ft). To this day, the Haussmann network is still the backbone of Paris' urban body.
The North-South and East-West Openings
Between 1854 and 1858, Haussmann took advantage of what was to be the most authoritarian period in Napoleon III's rule to achieve what possibly no other decade could have: transforming the heart of Paris by clearing a gigantic crossing in its center.
Because of the construction of the North-South line, from boulevard de Sébastopol to Boulevard Saint-Michel, a number of alleyways and dead-ends were cleared from the map. This line included an important intersection near the Châtelet and the Rue de Rivoli: the Second Empire extended it to the rue Saint-Antoine, a street Napoleon I had drawn alongside the Tuileries.
At the same time, Baltard was working on the Halles, a project initiated by Rambuteau, and the Île de la Cité was vastly demolished and transformed. The bridges surrounding were either rebuilt or considerably redone.
Haussmann completed this large intersection with line connecting the first circle of boulevards, such as the rue de Rennes on the left bank and the avenue de l'Opéra on the right bank. The rue de Rennes, which was meant to reach the Seine, never did.
The Rings of Boulevards Completed
Haussmann carried on the work of Louis XIV. He widened the Grands Boulevards and designed and built new axes of great size such as the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir.Some of these axes connected Louis XV's grand boulevards to those that ran alongside the Farmers General Wall. The Boulevard Haussmann and the Rue La Fayette, partially in place before 1870, guaranteed better access to the Opera neighborhood from the outside districts. The Boulevard Voltaire made it easier to bypass the center from the Place de la Nation.
On the Left Bank, as the Southern Boulevards, which go through Place d'Italie, Place Denfert-Rochereau and Montparnasse, were too far from the centre, the idea of another east-west access arose. Haussmann added the Rue des Écoles, designed by Napoléon III to his pet project: the Boulevard Saint-Germain, a Left Bank extension of the Grands Boulevards of the Right Bank.
A Third Network: The Outside Arrondissements
In the last years of his term, Haussmann begins to imagine turning into arrondissements (or districts) the outside towns annexed in 1860. He decides to create a long, winding set of streets connecting the 12th, 19th, and 20th arrondissements: rue Simon-Bolivar, rue des Pyrénées, avenue Michel-Bizot. The western neighborhoods enjoy a prestigious set-up, with twelve avenue, most of them built during the Second Empire, converging to the place de l'Étoile.
Other lines, such as the avenue Daumesnil or the boulevard Malesherbes enabled to access the center from these outside arrondissements.
The Squares at the Crossroads
The connection between the great boulevards required the creation of squares on the same scale. The Châtelet, converted by Davioud, is the crossroads of the two great axes crossing Paris from north to south and east to west. The works of Haussmann converted other great squares at crossing points across the whole city: Place de l'Étoile, Place Léon-Blum, Place de la République, Place de l'Alma.
The Railway Stations
Haussmann had the Gare de Lyon constructed in 1855 and the Gare du Nord in 1865.
He dreamed of connecting the Parisian railway termini with rail links but had to be content with making access easy by connecting them with important roads. From the Gare de Lyon, the Rue de Lyon, the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir and the Boulevard de Magenta run to the Gare de l'Est. Two parallel axes (Rue La Fayette and Boulevard Haussmann is the first, Rue de Châteaudun and Rue de Maubeuge the second) join the district around the Gare de l'Est and the Gare du Nord to that of the Gare Saint-Lazare. On the Left Bank, the Rue de Rennes serves Gare Montparnasse, then situated where the Tour Montparnasse stands today.
Monuments
Napoléon III et Haussmann covered the town with prestigeous edifices. Charles Garnier constructed the Opéra Garnier in an eclectic style and Gabriel Davioud designed two symmetric theatres on the Place du Châtelet. L'Hôtel-Dieu, the prison of the Cité (and future police headquarters), and the tribunal of Commerce replaced the mediaeval districts on the Île de la Cité. Each of the twenty new local government districts (arrondissements) was given a town hall.
They took care to set these monuments in the town by creating vast perspectives. For example the Avenue de l'Opéra offers a great frame for the edifice of the Opera Garnier, while the houses that prevented contemplation of the cathedral of Notre-Dame gave way to a great open space.
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.
In 1852, drinking water came mainly from the Ourcq. Steam engines also extracted water from the Seine, but the hygiene was appalling. Haussmann tasked the engineer Belgrand with the creation a new system of water provisioning to the capital, which lead to the construction of 600 kilometres of aqueduct between 1865 and 1900. The first, that of the Dhuis, brought water extracted near Château-Thierry. These aqueducts discharged their water in reservoirs situed with the city. Within the city limites and opposite Parc Montsouris, Belgrand built the largest water reservoir in the world to hold the water from the River Vanne.
Green Spaces
Green spaces in Paris were rare. Having visited and enjoyed the beautiful and plentiful London parks, Napoléon III hired engineer Jean-Charles Alphand, Haussmann's future successor, to create expansive parks and green spaces. On the east and west borders of the city, you could find the bois de Boulogne and the bois de Vincennes, respectively. In the enceinte de Thiers, the parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the parc Monceau, and the parc Montsouris offered citizens beautiful scenery and a place to relax and be with nature. Also, in each district Streets and squares of Paris were built, and trees were planted along avenues.
Paris Expands
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.
Criticism
Politicians and intellectuals sued the préfet over speculation and corruption surrounding these renovations. In La Curée (1871-72), Emile Zola described a common scheme of the time, where investors managed to get information on the buildings to be destroyed with the help of corrupt city officials, bought them for what they were worth, usually a very low price, and made profits from the expropriation compensations. Haussmann himself was accused of corruption, which resulted in his dismissal on January 5, 1870. The opera play Les Comptes fantastiques de Haussmann, in 1867, criticized this speculation period — the title is a play on words between contes, stories or tales - as in Les contes d'Hoffmann or Tales of Hoffmann, and comptes, accounts.
Artists and architects, (Charles Garnier among others) condemned the suffocating monotony of this monumental architecture. The Haussmann-type buildings were often seen as ugly. Many Parisians were troubled by the destruction of "old roots". Historian Robert Herbert says that "the impressionist movement depicted this loss of connection in such paintings as Manet's Bar at Folies (1882)." The subject of the painting is talking to a man, seen in the mirror behind her, but seems unengaged. According to Herbert, this is a symptom of living in Paris at this time: the citizens became detached from one another. "The continuous destruction of physical Paris led to a destruction of social Paris as well."
Haussmann's works, such as linking the four main train stations to large boulevards, were later seen as much as military engineering than as "civil planning". Indeed, this tied together the countryside and their garnisons to Paris, which at the time rarely saw a year without some type of disturbs or another (the July Revolution, the 1848 Revolution and the 1871 Paris Commune camouflage the smaller, daily, uprisings). Thus, this improved system of circulation allowed Adolphe Thiers' artillery to move in Paris, while the large boulevards made it difficult to create any long-standing barricade. The Commune was thus crushed in May 1871 by Adolphe Thiers, who since the 1848 Revolution and Haussman's renovation, had prepared his military plan: retreat from Paris to better crush the insurgents with military help (in part provided by the Prussians, who released war prisoners, etc.).
In the 1960s, the Situationist International added a new layer of interpretation to Haussmann's renovation: instead of only analyzing the military aims of this supposedly civil-planning, Guy Debord and other situationnists pointed out how his arrangement had structured Paris into various functional zones, prefiguring contemporary functionalism, in particular as described by Le Corbusier: leisure areas (such as the Bois de Vincennes), work areas, etc. This spatial differenciation was joined by social segregation. Of course, the IS criticized this functionalism, on behalf of its "psychogeographic" theories: it claimed that this zonage imposed specific behaviours on individuals according to their setting (for example, playing soccer in a park, but not in the street; praying in a church, instead of using them, as during the Commune, for political reunions, etc.).
See also
References
This article has been translated from its equivalent in the French language Wikipedia.
"Haussmann's renovation of Paris"