Haussmann's renovation of Paris

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Napoleon III instructed Haussmann to bring air and light to the center of the city, to unify the different neighborhoods withboulevards, and to
make the city more beautiful. The avenue de l'Opra, created by Haussmann, painted by Camille Pissarro(1898).

Georges-Eugene Haussmann, the Prefect of the Seine under Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) from 1853 until 1870

Haussmann's renovation of Paris was a vast public works program commissioned by

Emperor Napolon III and directed by his prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugne Haussmann,
between 1853 and 1870. It included the demolition of crowded and unhealthy medieval
neighborhoods, the building of wide avenues, parks and squares, the annexation of the suburbs
surrounding Paris, and the construction of new sewers, fountains and aqueducts. Haussmann's work
met with fierce opposition, and he was finally dismissed by Napoleon III in 1870; but work on his
projects continued until 1927. The street plan and distinctive appearance of the center of Paris today
is largely the result of Haussmann's renovation.
[1]

Contents

[hide]

1Overcrowding, disease, crime, and unrest in the center of the old Paris

2Earlier attempts to modernize the city

3Louis-Napolon Bonaparte comes to power, and the rebuilding of Paris begins (18481852)

4Haussmann begins work the Croise de Paris (185359)

5The second phase a network of new boulevards (18591867)

6Paris doubles in size the annexation of 1860

7The third phase, and mounting criticism (18691870)

8The downfall of Haussmann (1870) and the completion of his work (1927)

9Green space parks and gardens

10The architecture of Haussmann's Paris

11The Haussmann building

12Underneath the streets of Haussmann's Paris the renovation of the city's infrastructure

13Critics of Haussmann's Paris

o

13.1"Triumphant Vulgarity"

13.2The debate about the military purposes of Haussmann's boulevards

13.3Social disruption

14Legacy

15See also

16References
o

16.1Notes and citations

16.2Bibliography

17Further reading

18External links

Overcrowding, disease, crime, and unrest in the center of the old

Paris[edit]
The Rue St. Nicolas du Charonnet, one of the narrow Medieval streets near the Pantheon on the Left Bank, in the 1850s.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the center of Paris was overcrowded, dark, dangerous, and
unhealthy. In 1845 the French social reformer Victor Considerant wrote: "Paris is an immense
workshop of putrefaction, where misery, pestilence and sickness work in concert, where sunlight and
air rarely penetrate. Paris is a terrible place where plants shrivel and perish, and where, of seven
small infants, four die during the course of the year." The street plan on the le de la Cit and in the
neighborhood called the quarter des Arcis, between the Louvre and the Hotel de Ville, had changed
little since the Middle Ages. The population density in these neighborhoods was extremely high,
compared with the rest of Paris; in the neighborhood of the Champs-lyses, there was one resident
for every 186 square meters; in the neighborhoods of Arcis and Saint-Avoye, in the present Third
Arrondissement, there was one inhabitant for every three square meters. In 1840, a doctor
described one building in the le de la Cit where a single room five meters square on the fourth floor
was occupied by twenty-three persons, both adults and children. In these conditions, disease
spread very quickly. Cholera epidemics ravaged the city in 1832 and 1848. In the epidemic of 1848,
five percent of the inhabitants of these two neighborhoods had died.
[2]

[3]

[4]

[2]

Traffic circulation was another major problem. The widest streets in these two neighborhoods were
only five meters wide; the narrowest were only one or two meters wide. Wagons, carriages and
carts could barely move through the streets.
[4]

[5]

The center of the city was also a cradle of discontent and revolution; between 1830 and 1848, seven
armed uprisings and revolts had broken out in the centre of Paris, particularly along the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine, around the Hotel de Ville, and around Montagne Sainte-Genevive on the left bank.
The residents of these neighborhoods had taken up paving stones and blocked the narrow streets
with barricades, and had to be dislodged by the army.
[6]

The Rue des Marmousets, one of the narrow and dark medieval streets on the le de la Cit, in the 1850s. The site is near the Hotel
de Dieu.

The Rue du March aux fleurs on the le de la Cit, before Haussmann. The site is now the place Louis-Lpine.

The rue du Jardinet on the Left Bank, demolished by Haussmann to make room for the Boulevard Saint Germain.

The Rue Tirechamp in the old quarter des Arcis, demolished during the extension of the Rue de Rivoli

The Bievre river was used to dump the waste from the tanneries of Paris; it emptied into the Seine.

Barricade on rue Soufflot during the 1848 Revolution. There were seven armed uprisings in Paris between 1830 and 1848, with
barricades built in the narrow streets.

Earlier attempts to modernize the city[edit]

The second-hand clothing market, the March du Temple, in 1840, before Haussmann.

The urban problems of Paris had been recognized in the 18th century; Voltaire complained about the
markets "established in narrow streets, showing off their filthiness, spreading infection and causing
continuing disorders." He wrote that the facade of the Louvre was admirable, "but it was hidden
behind buildings worthy of the Goths and Vandals." He protested that the government "invested in
futilities rather than investing in public works." In 1739 he wrote to the King of Prussia: "I saw the
fireworks which they fired off with such management; would rather they started to have a Hotel de
Ville, beautiful squares, magnificent and convenient markets, beautiful fountains, before having
fireworks."
[7]

The 18th century architectural theorist and historian Quatremere de Quincy had proposed
establishing or widening public squares in each of the neighbourhoods, expanding and developing
the squares in front theCathedral of Notre Dame and the church of Saint Gervais, and building a
wide street to connect the Louvre with the Hotel de Ville, the new city hall. Moreau, the architect in
chief of Paris, suggested paving and developing the embankments of the Seine, building
monumental squares, clearing the space around landmarks, and cutting new streets. In 1794, during
the French Revolution, a Commission of Artists drafted an ambitious plan to build wide avenues,
including a street in a straight line from the Place de la Nation to the Louvre, where the Avenue
Victoria is today, and squares with avenues radiating in different directions, largely making use of
land confiscated from the church during the Revolution, but all of these projects remained on paper.
[8]

Napoleon Bonaparte also had ambitious plans for rebuilding the city. He began work on a canal to
bring fresh water to the city and began work on the Rue de Rivoli, beginning at the Place de la
Concorde, but was able to extend it only to the Louvre before his downfall. If only the heavens had
given me twenty more years of rule and a little leisure," he wrote while in exile on Saint Helena, one
would vainly search today for the old Paris; nothing would remain of it but vestiges.
[9]

The medieval core and plan of Paris changed little during the restoration of the monarchy through
the reign of King Louis-Philippe (18301848). It was the Paris of the narrow and winding streets and
foul sewers described in the novels of Balzac and Victor Hugo- the famous uprising described in Les
Miserables took place in 1832. In 1833, the new prefect of the Seine under Louis-Philippe, ClaudePhilibert Barthelot, comte de Rambuteau, made modest improvements to the sanitation and
circulation of the city. He constructed new sewers, though they still emptied directly into the Seine,
and a better water supply system. He constructed 180 kilometres of sidewalks, a new street, Rue
Lobau; a new bridge over the Seine, the pont Louis-Philippe; and cleared an open space around the
Hotel de Ville. He built a new street the length of the le de la Cit. and three additional streets
across it: rues d'Arcole, de la Cit, and Constantine. To access the central market at Les Halles, he
built a wide new street (today's Rue Rambuteau), and began work on boulevard Malesherbes. On
the Left Bank, he built a new street, Rue Soufflot, which cleared space around the Panthon, and
began work on the rue des Ecoles, between the Ecole Polytechnique and the College de France.
[10]

Rambuteau wanted to do more, but his budget and powers were limited. He did not have the power
to easily expropriate property to build new streets, and the first law which required minimum health
standards for Paris residential buildings was not passed until April 1850, under Louis-Napoleon
Bonaparte.
[11]

Louis-Napolon Bonaparte comes to power, and the rebuilding of

Paris begins (18481852)[edit]

Napoleon III in 1855

King Louis-Philippe was overthrown in the February Revolution of 1848. On 10 December

1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, won the first direct
presidential elections ever held in France with an overwhelming 74.2 percent of the votes cast. He
was elected largely because of his famous name, but also because of his promise to try to end
poverty and improve the lives of ordinary people. Though he had been born in Paris, he had lived
very little in the city; from the age of seven, he had lived in exile in Switzerland, England, and the
United States, and for six years in prison in France for attempting to overthrow King Louis-Philippe.
He had been especially impressed by London, with its wide streets, squares and large public parks.
In 1852 he gave a public speech declaring: "Paris is the heart of France. Let us apply our efforts to
embellishing this great city. Let us open new streets, make the working class quarters, which lack air
and light, more healthy, and let the beneficial sunlight reach everywhere within our walls. As soon
as he was President, he supported the building of the first subsidised housing project for workers in
Paris, the Cit-Napoleon, on the Rue Rochechouart. He proposed the completion of the Rue de
Rivoli from the Louvre to the Hotel de Ville, completing the project begun by his uncle Napoleon
Bonaparte, and he began a project to build a large new public park, the Bois de Boulogne, modelled
after Hyde Park in London but much larger, on the west side of the city. He wanted both these
projects to be completed before the end of his term in 1852, but became frustrated by the slow
progress made by his prefect of the Seine, Berger. The prefect was unable to move the work forward
[12]

[13]

on the Rue de Rivoli quickly enough, and the original design for the Bois de Boulogne turned out to
be a disaster; the architect, Jacques Ignace Hittorff, who had designed the Place de la Concorde for
Louis-Philippe, followed Louis-Napoleon's instructions to imitate Hyde Park designed two lakes
connected by a stream for the new park, but forgot to take into account the difference of elevation
between the two lakes. If they had been built, the one lake would have immediately emptied itself
into the other.
[14]

At the end of 1851, shortly before Napoleon's term expired, neither the Rue de Rivoli nor the park
had progressed very far. He wanted to run for re-election in 1852, but was blocked by the new
Constitution, which limited him to one term. A majority of members of parliament voted to change the
Constitution, but not the two-thirds majority required. Prevented from running again, Napoleon
staged a coup d'tat on 2 December 1851 and seized power. His opponents were arrested or exiled.
The following year, on 2 December 1852, he declared himself Emperor, under the title Napoleon III.

[15]

Haussmann begins work the Croise de Paris (185359)[edit]

The Rue de Rivoli, shown here in 1855, was the first boulevard built by Haussmann, and it served as the model for the others.

The boulevards and streets built by Napoleon III and Haussmann during the Second Empire are shown in red. They also built the Bois de
Boulogne, Bois de Vincennes, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Montsouris, and dozens of smaller parks and squares.

Napoleon III dismissed Berger as the Prefect of the Seine and sought a more effective manager. His
minister of the interior, Victor de Persigny, interviewed several candidates, and selected George
Eugene Haussmann, the prefect of Bordeaux, who impressed Persigny with his energy, audacity,
and ability to overcome or get around problems and obstacles. He became Prefect of the Seine on
22 June 1853, and on 29 June the Emperor showed him the map of Paris and instructed
Haussmann to arer, unifier, et embellir Paris: to give it air and open space, to connect and unify the
different parts of the city into one whole, and to make it more beautiful.
[16]

Haussmann went to work immediately on the first phase of the renovation desired by Napoleon III;
completing the grand croise de Paris, a great cross in the centre of Paris that would permit easier
communication from east to west along the rue de Rivoli and rue Saint-Antoine, and north-south
communication along two new Boulevards, Strasbourg and Sebastopol. The grand cross had been
proposed by the Convention during the Revolution, and begun by Napoleon I; Napoleon III was
determined to complete it. Completion of the rue de Rivoli was given an even higher priority,
because the Emperor wanted it finished before the opening of the Paris Universal Exposition of
1855, only two years away, and he wanted the project to include a new hotel, the Grand Htel du
Louvre, the first large luxury hotel in the city, to house the Imperial guests at the Exposition. .
[17]

Under the Emperor, Haussmann had greater power than any of his predecessors. In February 1851
the French Senate had simplified the laws on expropriation, giving him the authority to expropriate all
the land on either side of a new street; and he did not have to report to the Parliament, only to the
Emperor. The French parliament, controlled by Napoleon III, provided fifty million francs, but this was
not nearly enough. Napoleon III appealed to the Pereire brothers, Emile and Isaac, two bankers who
had created a new investment bank, Crdit Mobilier. The Pereire brothers organised a new company
which raised 24 million francs to finance the construction of the street, in exchange for the rights to
develop real estate along the route. This became a model for the building of all of Haussmann's
future boulevards.
[18]

To meet the deadline, three thousand workers laboured on the new boulevard twenty-four hours a
day. The rue de Rivoli was completed, and the new hotel opened in March 1855, in time to welcome
guests to the Exposition. The junction was made between the Rue de Rivoli and rue Saint-Antoine;
in the process Haussmann created a new Place du Carrousel, opened up a new square, Place
Saint-Germain l'Auxerois facing the colonnade of the Louvre; reorganized the space between the
Hotel de Ville and the place du Chatelet. Between the Hotel and Ville and the Bastille, he widened
the rue Saint-Antoine; he was careful to save the historicHotel de Sully and Hotel de Mayenne, but
many other buildings, both medieval and modern, were knocked down to make room for the wider
street, and several ancient, dark and narrow streets, rue de l'Arche-Marion, rue du Chevalier-le-Guet
and rue des Mauvaises-Paroles, disappeared from the map.
[19]

[20]

In 1855, work began on the north-south axis, beginning with Boulevard de Strasbourg and Boulevard
Sebastopol, which cut through the center of some of the most crowded and unhealthy
neighborhoods in Paris, where the cholera epidemic had been the worst, between the rue SaintMartin and rue Saint-Denis. "It was the gutting of old Paris," Haussmann wrote with satisfaction in
his Memoires: of the neighborhood of riots, and of barricades, from one end to the other." The
boulevard Sebastopol ended at the new Place du Chtelet; a new bridge, the pont-au-Change, was
constructed across the Seine, and crossed the island on a newly built street. On the left bank, the
north-south axis was continued by boulevard Saint-Michel, which was cut in a straight line from the
Seine to the Observatory, and then, as the Rue d'Enfer, extended all the way to route d'Orleans. The
north-south axis was completed in 1859.
[21]

The two axes crossed at the Place du Chtelet, making it the center of Haussmann's Paris.
Haussmann widened the square, moved the Fontaine du Palmier, built by Napoleon I, to the center;
and built two new theaters, facing each other across the square; the Cirque Imprial (now the
Thatre du Chtelet) and the Thatre Lyrique (now Thatre de la Ville).
[22]

The second phase a network of new boulevards (18591867)

[edit]

The tree-lined avenue de l'Impratrice(now avenue Foch) was designed by Haussmann as the grand entrance to theBois de Boulogne.

The new avenue des Gobelins on the left bank opened a view to the Panthon.

Haussmann's Boulevard Saint-Germainwas designed as the main east-west axis of the left bank.

The le de la Cit transformed by Haussmann: new transverse streets (red), public spaces (light blue) and buildings (dark blue).

In the first phase of his renovation Haussmann constructed 9,467 metres (6 miles) of new
boulevards, at a net cost of 278 million francs. The official parliamentary report of 1859 found that it
had "brought air, light and healthiness and procured easier circulation in a labyrinth that was
constantly blocked and impenetrable, where streets were winding, narrow, dark and unhealthy." It
had employed thousands of workers, and most Parisians were pleased by the results. His second
phase, approved by the Emperor and parliament in 1858 and begun in 1859, was much more
ambitious. He intended to build a network of wide boulevards to connect the interior of Paris with the
ring of grand boulevards built by Louis XVIII during the restoration, and to the new railroad stations
which Napoleon III considered the real gates of the city. He planned to construct 26,294 metres (16
miles) of new avenues and streets, at a cost of 180 million francs. Haussmann's plan called for the
following:
[23]

[24]

On the right bank:

The construction of a large new square, place du Chateau-d'Eau (the modern Place de la
Rpublique). This involved demolishing the famous theater street known as "le boulevard du
Crime", made famous in the filmLes Enfants du Paradis; and the construction of three new major
streets: the boulevard du Prince Eugne (the modern boulevard Voltaire); the boulevard
Magenta and rue Turbigo. Boulevard Voltaire became one of the longest streets in the city, and
became the central axis of the eastern neighborhoods of the city. It would end at the place du
Trne (the modern Place de la Nation).

The extension of boulevard Magenta to connect it with the new railway station, the Gare du
Nord.

The construction of boulevard Malesherbes, to connect the place de la Madeleine to the

new Monceau neighborhood. The construction of this street obliterated one of the most sordid
and dangerous neighborhoods in the city, called la Petite Pologne, where Paris policemen rarely
ventured at night.

A new square, place de l'Europe, in front of the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station. The
station was served by two new boulevards, rue de Rome and rue Saint-Lazaire. In addition,
the rue de Madrid was extended and two other streets, rue de Rouen (the modern rue Auber)
and rue Halevy, were built in this neighborhood.

Parc Monceau was redesigned and replanted, and part of the old park made into a
residential quarter.

The rue de Londres and rue de Constantinople, under a new name, avenue de Villiers, was
extended to porte Champerret.

The toile, around the Arc de Triomphe, was completely redesigned. A star of new avenues
radiated from the toile; avenue de Bezons (now Wagram); avenue Kleber; avenue
Josephine (now Monceau); avenue Prince-Jerome (now Mac-Mahon and Niel); avenue
Essling (now Carnot); and a wider avenue de Saint-Cloud (now Victor-Hugo).

Avenue Daumesnil was built as far as the new Bois de Vincennes, a huge new park being
constructed on the east edge of the city.

The hill of Chaillot was leveled, and a new square created at the Pont d'Alma. Three new
boulevards were built in this neighborhood: avenue d'Alma (the present George V); avenue de

l'Empereur (the present avenue du President-Wilson), which connected the places

d'Alma, d'Iena and du Trocadro. In addition, four new streets were built in that
neighborhood: rue Francois-I , rue Pierre Charron, rue Marbeuf and rue de Marignan.
er

[25]

On the left bank:

Two new boulevards, avenue Bosquet and avenue Rapp, were constructed, beginning from
the pont de l'Alma.

The avenue de la Tour Maubourg was extended as far as the pont des Invalides.

A new street, boulevard Arago, was constructed, to open up place Denfert-Rochereau.

A new street, boulevard d'Enfer (today's boulevard Raspail) was built up to the
intersection SvresBabylone.

The streets around the Panthon on Montagne Sainte-Genevive were extensively changed.
A new street, avenue des Gobelins, was created, and part of rue Mouffetard was expanded.
Another new street, rue Monge, was created on the east, while another new street, rue Claude
Bernard, on the south. Rue Soufflot, built by Rambuteau, was entirely rebuilt.

On the le de la Cit:
The island became an enormous construction site, which completely destroyed most of the old
streets and neighborhoods. Two new government buildings, the Tribunal de Commerce and
the Prefecture de Police, were built, occupying a large part of the island. Two new streets were also
built, the boulevard du Palais and the rue de Lutce. Two bridges, the pont Saint-Michel and
the pont-au-Change were completely rebuilt, along with the embankments near them. The Palais de
Justice and place Dauphine were extensively modified. At the same time, Haussmann preserved
and restored the jewels of the island; the square in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame was
widened, the spire of the Cathedral, pulled down during the Revolution, was restored, and SainteChapelle and the ancient Conciergerie were saved and restored.
[26]

The grand projects of the second phase were mostly welcomed, but also caused criticism.
Haussmann was especially criticized for his taking large parts of the Jardin du Luxembourg to make
room for the present-dayboulevard Raspail, and for its connection with the boulevard Saint-Michel.
The Medici Fountain had to be moved further into the park, and was reconstructed with the addition
of statuary and a long basin of water. Haussmann was also criticized for the growing cost of his
projects; the estimated cost for the 26,290 metres (86,250 ft) of new avenues had been 180 million
francs, but grew to 410 million francs; property owners whose buildings had been expropriated won
a legal case entitling them to a larger payments, and many property owners found ingenious ways to
increase the value of their expropriated properties by inventing non-existent shops and businesses,
and charging the city for lost revenue.
[27]

[28]

Paris doubles in size the annexation of 1860[edit]

Haussmann presents Emperor Napoleon III the documents for the annexation of the Paris suburbs

On 1 January 1860 Napoleon III officially annexed the suburbs of Paris out to the ring of fortifications
around the city. The annexation included eleven communes; Auteuil, Batignolles-Monceau,
Montmartre, La Chapelle, Passy, La Villette, Belleville, Charonne, Bercy, Grenelle and Vaugirard,
along with pieces of other outlying towns. The residents of these suburbs were not entirely happy
to be annexed; they did not want to pay the higher taxes, and wanted to keep their independence,
but they had no choice; Napoleon III was Emperor, and he could arrange boundaries as he wished.
[29]

With the annexation Paris was enlarged from twelve to twenty arrondissements, the number today.
The annexation more than doubled the area of the city from 3,300 hectares to 7,100 hectares, and
the population of Paris instantly grew by 400,000 to 1,600,000 persons. The annexation made it
necessary for Haussmann to enlarge his plans, and to construct new boulevards to connect the new
arrondissements with the center. In order to connect Auteil and Passy to the center of Paris, he built
rues Michel-Ange, Molitor and Mirabeau. To connect the plain of Monceau, he built avenues Villers,
Wagram, and boulevard Malesherbes. To reach the northern arrondissements he extended
boulevard Magenta with boulevard d'Ornano as far as the Porte de la Chapelle, and in the east
extended the rue des Pyrnes.
[30]

[31]

The third phase, and mounting criticism (18691870) [edit]

The third phase of renovations was proposed in 1867 and approved in 1869, but it faced much more
opposition than the earlier phases. Napoleon III had decided to liberalize his empire in 1860, and to
give a greater voice to the parliament and to the opposition. The Emperor had always been less
popular in Paris than in the rest of the country, and the republican opposition in parliament focused
its attacks on Haussmann. Haussmann ignored the attacks and went ahead with the third phase,
which planned the construction of twenty eight kilometers of new boulevards and at an estimated
cost of 280 million francs.
[24]

The third phase included these projects on the right bank:

The renovation of the gardens of the Champs-lyses.

Finishing the place du Chteau d'Eau (now Place de la Republique), creating a new avenue
des Amandiers and extending avenue Parmentier.

Finishing place du Trone (now Place de la Nation) and opening three new boulevards:
avenue Phiippe-Auguste, avenue Taillebourg, and avenue de Bouvines.

Extending rue Caulaincourt and preparing a future Pont Caulaincourt.

Building a new rue de Chteaudon and clearing the space around the church of Notre-Dame
de Lorette, making room for connection between the gare Saint-Lazare and the gare du Nord
and gare de l'Est.

Finishing the place in front of the Gare du Nord. Rue Maubeuge was extended from
Montmartre to the boulevard de la Chapelle, and rue Lafayette was extended to the porte de
Pantin.

The place de l'Opera had been created during the first and second phases; the opera itself
was to be built in the third phase.

Extending boulevard Haussmann from the place Saint-Augustin to rue Taitbout, connecting
the new quarter of the Opera with that of Etoile.

Creating place du Trocadero, the starting point of two new avenues, the modern PresidentWilson and Henri-Martin.

Creating place Victor Hugo, the starting point of avenues Malakoff and Bugeaud and rues
Boissire and Copernic.

Finishing the Rond-Point of the Champs-lyses, with the construction of avenue d'Antin
(now Franklin Roosevelt) and rue La Botie.

On the left bank:

Building boulevard Saint-Germain from the pont de la Concorde to rue du Bac; building rue
des Saints-Pres and rue de Rennes.
Extending rue de la Glacire and enlarging place Monge.

[32]

Haussmann did not have time to finish the third phase, as he soon came under intense attack from
the opponents of Napoleon III.

The downfall of Haussmann (1870) and the completion of his

work (1927)[edit]
In 1867, one of the leaders of the parliamentary opposition to Napoleon, Jules Ferry, ridiculed the
accounting practices of Haussmann as Les Comptes fantastiques d'Haussmann ("The fantastic
(bank) accounts of Haussmann"), a play-on-words based on the "Les Contes
d'Hoffman" Offenbach operetta popular at the time. In the parliamentary elections of May 1869, the
government candidates won 4.43 million votes, while the opposition republicans won 3.35 million
votes. In Paris, the republican candidates won 234,000 votes to 77,000 for the Bonapartist
candidates, and took eight of the nine seats of Paris deputies. At the same time Napoleon III was
increasingly ill, suffering from gallstones which were to cause his death in 1873, and preoccupied by
the political crisis that would lead to the Franco-Prussian War. In December 1869 Napoleon III
named an opposition leader and fierce critic of Haussmann, Emile Ollivier, as his new prime minister.
Napoleon gave in to the opposition demands in January 1870 and asked Haussmann to resign.
Haussmann refused to resign, and the Emperor reluctantly dismissed him on 5 January 1870. Eight
months later, during the Franco-German War, Napoleon III was captured by the Germans, and the
Empire was overthrown.
[33]

[34]

In his memoirs, written many years later, Haussmann had this comment on his dismissal: "In the
eyes of the Parisians, who like routine in things but are changeable when it comes to people, I
committed two great wrongs: Over the course of seventeen years, I disturbed their daily habits by
turning Paris upside down, and they had to look at the same face of the Prefect in the Hotel de Ville.
These were two unforgivable complaints."
[35]

Haussmann's successor as prefect of the Seine appointed Jean-Charles Alphand, the head of
Haussmann's department of parks and plantations, as the director of works of Paris. Alphand
respected the basic concepts of his plan. Despite their intense criticism of Napoleon III and
Haussmann during the Second Empire, the leaders of the new Third Republic continued and
finished his renovation projects.

1875- completion of the Paris Opera

1877- completion of boulevard Saint-Germain

1877- completion of avenue de l'Opera

1879- completion of boulevard Henri IV

1889- completion of avenue de la Republique

1907- completion of boulevard Raspail

1927- completion of boulevard Haussmann

[36]

Green space parks and gardens[edit]

The Bois de Boulogne (18521858) was inspired by Hyde Park in London, and was designed to provide rest and relaxation for families of all
classes of Parisians.

Prior to Haussmann, Paris had only four public parks; the Jardin des Tuileries, the Jardin du
Luxembourg, and the Palais Royal, all in the center of the city, and the Parc Monceau, the former
property of the family of King Louis Philippe, in addition to the Jardin des Plantes, the city's botanical
garden and oldest park. Napoleon III had already begun construction of the Bois de Boulogne, and
wanted to build more new parks and gardens for the recreation and relaxation of the Parisians,
particularly those in the new neighborhoods of the expanding city. Napoleon III's new parks were
inspired by his memories of the parks in London, especially Hyde Park, where he had strolled and
promenaded in a carriage while in exile; but he wanted to build on a much larger scale. Working with
Haussmann, Jean-Charles Alphand, the engineer who headed the new Service of Promenades and
Plantations, whom Haussmann brought with him from Bordeaux, and his new chief gardener, JeanPierre Barillet-Deschamps, also from Bordeaux, he laid out a plan for four major parks at the cardinal
points of the compass around the city. Thousands of workers and gardeners began to dig lakes,
build cascades, plant lawns, flowerbeds and trees. construct chalets and grottoes. Haussmann and
Alphand created theBois de Boulogne (18521858) to the west of Paris: the Bois de
Vincennes (18601865) to the east; the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (18651867) to the north,
and Parc Montsouris (18651878) to the south. In addition to building the four large parks,
Haussmann and Alphand redesigned and replanted the city's older parks, including Parc Monceau,
and the Jardin du Luxembourg. Altogether, in seventeen years, they planted six hundred thousand
trees and added two thousand hectares of parks and green space to Paris. Never before had a city
built so many parks and gardens in such a short time.
[37]

[37]

[38]

Under Louis Phiilippe, a single public square had been created, at the tip of the Ile-de-la-Cit.
Haussmann wrote in his memoires that Napoleon III instructed him: "do not miss an opportunity to
build, in all the arrondissements of Paris, the greatest possible number of squares, in order to offer
the Parisians, as they have done in London, places for relaxation and recreation for all the families
and all the children, rich and poor.". In response Haussmann created twenty-four new squares;
seventeen in the older part of the city, eleven in the new arrondissements, adding 150,000 square
meters of green space. Alphand termed this small parks "Green and flowering salons."
Haussmann's goal was to have one park in each of the eighty neighborhoods of Paris, so that no
one was more than a ten minute's walk from such a park. The parks and squares were an immediate
success with all classes of Parisians.
[39]

[40]

[41]

The Bois de Vincennes (18601865) was (and is today) the largest park in Paris, designed to give green space to the working-class
population of east Paris.

Haussmann built the Parc des Buttes Chaumont on the site of a former limestone quarry at the northern edge of the city.

Parc Montsouris (18651869) was built at the southern edge of the city, where some of the old catacombs of Paris had been.

Parc Monceau, formerly the property of the family of King Louis-Philippe, was redesigned and replanted by Haussmann. A corner of
the park was taken for a new residential quarter (Painting by Gustave Caillebotte).

The Square des Batignolles, one of the new squares that Haussmann built in the neighborhoods annexed to Paris in 1860.

The architecture of Haussmann's Paris[edit]

The Palais Garnier or Paris Opera (1875), then the largest theater in the world, begun by Napoleon III but not finished until 1875. The style
was described by its architect, Charles Garnier, simply as "Napoleon III."

Napoleon III and Haussmann commissioned a wide variety of architecture, some of it traditional,
some of it very innovative, like the glass and iron pavilions of Les Halles; and some of it, such as
the Opera Garnier, commissioned by Napoleon III, designed by Charles Garnier but not finished until
1875, difficult to classify. Many of the buildings were designed by the city architect, Gabriel Davioud,
who designed everything from city halls and theaters to park benches and kiosks.
His architectural projects included:

The construction of two new railroad stations, the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l'Est; and
the rebuilding of the Gare de Lyon.

Six new mairies, or town halls, for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th and 12th arrondissements, and
the enlargement of the other mairies.

The reconstruction of Les Halles, the central market, replacing the old market buildings with
large glass and iron pavilions, designed by Victor Baltard. In addition, Haussmann built a new

market in the neighborhood of the Temple, the March Saint-Honor; the March de l'Europe in
the 8th arrondissement; the March Saint-Quentin in the 10th arrondissement; the March de
Belleville in the 20th; the March des Batignolles in the 17th; the March Saint-Didier and
March d'Auteuil in the 16th; the March de Necker in the 15th; the March de Montrouge in the
14th; the March de Place d'Italie in the 13th; the March Saint-Maur-Popincourt in the 11th.

The Paris Opera (now Palais Garnier), begun under Napoleon III and finished in 1875; and
five new theaters; the Chtelet and Thtre Lyrique on the Place du Chtelet; the Gat,
Vaudeville and Panorama.

Five lyces were renovated, and in each of the eighty neighborhoods Haussmann
established one municipal school for boys and one for girls, in addition to the large network of
schools run by the Catholic church.

The reconstruction and enlargement of the city's oldest hospital, the Htel-Dieu de Paris on
the le-de-la-Cit.

The completion of the last wing of the Louvre, and the opening up of the Place du Carousel
and the Place du Palais-Royal by the demolition of several old streets.

The building of the first railroad bridge across the Seine; originally called the Pont Napoleon
III, now called simply the Pont National.

Since 1801, under Napoleon I, the French government was responsible for the building and
maintenance of churches. Haussmann built, renovated or purchased nineteen churches. New
churches included the Saint-Augustin, the Eglise Saint-Vincent de Paul, the Eglise de la Trinit. He
bought six churches which had been purchased by private individuals during the French Revolution.
Haussmann built or renovated five temples and built two new synagogues, on rue des Tournelles
and rue de la Victoire.
[42]

Besides building churches, theaters and other public buildings, Haussmann paid attention to the
details of the architecture along the street; his city architect, Gabriel Davioud, designed garden
fences, kiosks, shelters for visitors to the parks, public toilets, and dozens of other small but
important structures.

The hexagonal Parisian street kiosk, introduced by Haussmann

A kiosk for a street merchant on Square des Arts et Metiers (1865).

The pavilions of Les Halles, the great iron and glass central market designed by Victor Baltard (1870). The market was demolished
in the 1970s, but one original hall was moved toNogent-sur-Marne, where it can be seen today.

The Church of Saint Augustin (18601871), built by the same architect as the markets of Les Halles, Victor Baltard, looked
traditional on the outside but had a revolutionary iron frame on the inside.

The Fontaine Saint-Michel(18581860), designed byGabriel Davioud, marked the beginning of Boulevard Saint-Michel.

The Thtre de la Ville, one of two matching theaters, designed by Gabriel Davioud, which Haussmann had constructed at
the Place du Chatelet, the meeting point of his north-south and east-west boulevards.

The Hotel-Dieu de Paris, the oldest hospital in Paris, next to the Cathedral of Notre Dame on the le de la Cit, was enlarged and
rebuilt by Haussmann beginning in 1864, and finished in 1876. It replaced several of the narrow, winding streets of the old medieval
city.

The Prefecture de Police (shown here), the new Palais de Justice and the Tribunal de Commerce took the place of a dense web of
medieval streets on the western part of the le de la Cit.

The Gare du Nord railway station (186164). Napoleon III and Haussmann saw the railway stations as the new gates of Paris, and
built monumental new stations.

The new mairie, or town hall, of the 12th arrondissement. Haussmann built new city halls for six of the original twelve
arrondissements, and enlarged the other six.

Haussmann reconstructed ThePont Saint-Michel connecting the le-de-la-Cit to the left bank. It still bears the initial Nof Napolon
III.

The first railroad bridge across the Seine (185253), originally called the Pont Napoleon III, now called simply the Pont National.

A chalet de ncessit, or public toilet, with a facade sculpted by Emile Guadrier, built near the Champs Elysees. (1865).

The Haussmann building[edit]

Place Saint-Georges.

Boulevard Haussmann, lined by typical Haussmann buildings.

The most famous and recognizable feature of Haussmann's renovation of Paris are the Haussmann
apartment buildings which line the boulevards of Paris. Street blocks were designed as
homogeneous architectural wholes. He treated buildings not as independent structures, but as
pieces of a unified urban landscape.
In 18th century Paris, the architecture still existing before Haussmann, buildings were usually narrow
(often only six meters wide); deep (sometimes forty meters) and tall - as many as five or six stories.
The ground floor usually contained a shop, and the shopkeeper lived in the rooms above the shop.
The upper floors were occupied by families; the top floor, under the roof, was originally a storage
place, but under the pressure of the growing population, was usually turned into a low-cost
residence. In the early 19th century, before Haussmann, the height of buildings was strictly limited
to 22.41 meters, or four floors above the ground floor. The city also began to see a demographic
shift; wealthier families began moving to the western neighborhoods, partly because there was more
space, and partly because the prevailing winds carried the smoke from the new factories in Paris
toward the east.
[43]

In Haussmann's Paris, the streets became much wider, growing from an average of twelve meters
wide to twenty-four meters, and in the new arrondissements, often to eighteen meters wide.
The interiors of the buildings were left to the owners of the buildings, but the facades were strictly
regulated, to ensure that they were the same height, color, material, and general design, and were
harmonious when all seen together.
The reconstruction of the rue de Rivoli was the model for the rest of the Paris boulevards. The new
apartment buildings followed the same general plan:

ground floor and basement with thick, load-bearing walls, fronts usually parallel to the street.
This was often occupied by shops or offices.

mezzanine or entresol intermediate level, with low ceilings; often also used by shops or
offices.

second, piano nobile floor with a balcony. This floor, in the days before elevators were
common, was the most desirable floor, and had the largest and best apartments.

third and fourth floors in the same style but with less elaborate stonework around the
windows, sometimes lacking balconies.

fifth floor with a single, continuous, undecorated balcony.

mansard roof, angled at 45, with garret rooms and dormer windows. Originally this floor was
to be occupied by lower-income tenants, but with time and with higher rents it came to be
occupied almost exclusively by the concierges and servants of the people in the apartments
below.

The Haussmann faade was organized around horizontal lines that often continued from one
building to the next: balconies and cornices were perfectly aligned without any noticeable alcoves or
projections, at the risk of the uniformity of certain quarters. The rue de Rivoli served as a model for
the entire network of new Parisian boulevards. For the building faades, the technological progress
of stone sawing and (steam) transportation allowed the use of massive stone blocks instead of
simple stone facing. The street-side result was a "monumental" effect that exempted buildings from a
dependence on decoration; sculpture and other elaborate stonework would not become widespread
until the end of the century.
Before Haussmann, most buildings in Paris were made of brick or wood and covered with plaster.
Haussmann required that the buildings along the new boulevards be either built or faced with cut
stone, usually the local cream-colored Lutetian limestone, which gave more harmony to the
appearance of the boulevards. He also required, using a decree from 1852, that the facades of all
buildings be regularly maintained, repainted, or cleaned, at least every ten years. under the threat of
a fine of one hundred francs.
[44]

Underneath the streets of Haussmann's Paris the renovation of

the city's infrastructure[edit]
The new water pipes and sewers built under the Boulevard Sebastopol.

While he was rebuilding the boulevards of Paris, Haussmann simultaneously rebuilt the dense
labyrinth of pipes, sewers and tunnels under the streets which provided Parisians with basic
services. Haussmann wrote in his mmoires: "The underground galleries are an organ of the great
city, functioning like an organ of the human body, without seeing the light of day; clean and fresh
water, light and heat circulate like the various fluids whose movement and maintenance serves the
life of the body; the secretions are taken away mysteriously and don't disturb the good functioning of
the city and without spoiling its beautiful exterior."
[45]

Haussmann began with the water supply. Before Haussmann, drinking water in Paris was either
lifted by steam engines from the Seine, or brought by a canal, started by Napoleon I, from the
river Ourcq, a tributary of the river Marne. The quantity of water was insufficient for the fast-growing
city, and, since the sewers also emptied into the Seine near the intakes for drinking water, it was also

notoriously unhealthy. In March 1855 Haussmann appointed Eugene Belgrand, a graduate of

the cole Polytechnique, to the post of Director of Water and Sewers of Paris.
[46]

Belgrand first addressed the city's fresh water needs, constructing a system of aqueducts that nearly
doubled the amount of water available per person per day and quadrupled the number of homes
with running water. These aqueducts discharged their water in reservoirs situated within the city.
Inside the city limits and opposite Parc Montsouris, Belgrand built the largest water reservoir in the
world to hold the water from the RiverVanne.
[47]

At the same time Belgrand began rebuilding the water distribution and sewer system under the
streets. In 1852 Paris had 142 kilometers of sewers, which could carry only liquid waste. Containers
of solid waste were picked up each night by people called vidangeurs, who carried it to waste dumps
on the outskirts of the city. The tunnels he designed were intended to be clean, easily accessible,
and substantially larger than the previous Parisian underground. Under his guidance, Paris's sewer
system expanded fourfold between 1852 and 1869.
[48]

[49]

Haussmann and Belgrand built new sewer tunnels under each sidewalk of the new boulevards. The
sewers were designed to be large enough to evacuate immediately rain water; the large amount of
water used to wash the city streets; waste water from both industries and individual households; and
water that collected in basements when the level of the Seine was high. Before Haussmann, the
sewer tunnels (featured in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables) were cramped and narrow, just 1.8 meters
high and 75 to 80 centimeters wide. The new tunnels were 2.3 meters high and 1.3 meters wide,
large enough for men to work standing up. These flowed into larger tunnels that carried the waste
water to even larger collector tunnels, which were 4.4 meters high and 5.6 meters wide. A channel
down the center of the tunnel carried away the waste water, with sidewalks on either side for
the goutiers, or sewer workers. Specially designed wagons and boats moved on rails up and down
the channels, cleaning them. Belgrand proudly invited tourists to visit his sewers and ride in the
boats under the streets of the city.
[50]

The underground labyrinth built by Haussmann also provided gas for heat and for lights to illuminate
Paris. At the beginning of the Second Empire, gas was provided by six different private companies.
Haussmann forced them to consolidate into a single company, the Compagnie Parisienne
d'Eclairage et de Chauffage par le Gaz, with rights to provide gas to Parisians for fifty years.
Consumption of gas tripled between 1855 and 1859. In 1850 there were only 9000 gaslights in Paris;
by 1867, the Paris Opera and four other major theaters alone had fifteen thousand gas lights. Almost
all the new residential buildings of Paris had gaslights in the courtyards and stairways; the
monuments and public buildings of Paris, the arcades of the Rue de Rivoli, and the squares,
boulevards and streets were illuminated at night by gaslights. For the first time, Paris was the City of
Light.
[51]

Critics of Haussmann's Paris[edit]

"Triumphant Vulgarity"[edit]
Haussmann's renovation of Paris had many critics during his own time. Some were simply tired of
the continuous construction. The French historian Lon Halvy wrote in 1867, "the work of Monsieur
Haussmann is incomparable. Everyone agrees. Paris is a marvel, and M. Haussmann has done in
fifteen years what a century could not have done. But that's enough for the moment. There will be a
20th century. Let's leave something for them to do." Others regretted that he had destroyed a
historic part of the city. The brothers Goncourt condemned the avenues that cut at right angles
through the center of the old city, where "one could no longer feel in the world of Balzac.". Jules
Ferry, the most vocal critic of Haussmann in the French parliament, wrote: "We weep with our eyes
full of tears for the old Paris, the Paris of Voltaire, of Desmoulins, the Paris of 1830 and 1848, when
we see the grand and intolerable new buildings, the costly confusion, the triumphant vulgarity, the
awful materialism, that we are going to pass on to our descendants."
[52]

[53]

[54]

The 20th century historian of Paris Ren Hron de Villefosse shared the same view of Haussmann's
renovation: "in less than twenty years, Paris lost its ancestral appearance, its character which
passed from generation to generation... the picturesque and charming ambiance which our fathers
had passed onto us was demolished , often without good reason." Hron de Villefosse denounced
Haussmann's central market, Les Halles, as "a hideous eruption" of cast iron. Describing
Haussmann's renovation of the le de la Cit, he wrote: "the old ship of Paris was torpedoed by
Baron Haussmann and sunk during his reign. It was perhaps the greatest crime of the
megalomaniac prefect and also his biggest mistake...His work caused more damage than a hundred
bombings. It was in part necessary, and one should give him credit for his self-confidence, but he
was certainly lacking culture and good taste...In the United States, it would be wonderful, but in our
capital, which he covered with barriers, scaffolds, gravel, and dust for twenty years, he committed
crimes, errors, and showed bad taste."
[55]

The Paris historian, Patrice de Moncan, in general an admirer of Haussmann's work, faulted
Haussmann for not preserving more of the historic streets on the le de la Cit, and for clearing a
large open space in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, while hiding another major historical
monument, Sainte-Chapelle, out of sight within the walls of the Palais de Justice, He also criticized
Haussmann for reducing the Jardin de Luxembourg from thirty to twenty-six hectares in order to
build the rues Medici, Guynemer and Auguste-Comte; for giving away a half of Parc Monceau to the
Pereire brothers for building lots, in order to reduce costs; and for destroying several historic
residences along the route of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, because of his unwavering
determination to have straight streets.
[56]

The debate about the military purposes of Haussmann's boulevards [edit]

During the Paris Commune, the Communards built an impressive fort where the Rue de Rivoli met the Place de la Concorde. The army used
side streets to move around it, and captured it from behind.

Some of Haussmann's critics said that the real purpose of Haussmann's boulevards was to make it
easier for the army to maneuver and suppress armed uprisings; Paris had experienced six such
uprisings between 1830 and 1848, all in the narrow, crowded streets in the center and east of Paris
and on the left bank around the Pantheon. These critics argued that a small number of large, open
intersections allowed easy control by a small force. In addition, buildings set back from the center of
the street could not be used so easily as fortifications. Emile Zola repeated that argument in his
early novel, La Cure; "Paris sliced by strokes of a saber: the veins opened, nourishing one hundred
thousand earth movers and stone masons; criss-crossed by admirable strategic routes, placing forts
in the heart of the old neighborhoods.
[57]

[58]

Some real-estate owners demanded large, straight avenues to help troops manoeuvre. The
argument that the boulevards were designed for troop movements was repeated by 20th century
critics, including the French historian, Ren Hrron de Villefosse, who wrote, "the larger part of the
piercing of avenues had for its reason the desire to avoid popular insurrections and barricades. They
were strategic from their conception." This argument was also popularized by the American
architectural critic, Lewis Mumford.
[59]

[60]

Haussmann himself did not deny the military value of the wider streets. In his memoires, he wrote
that his new boulevard Sebastopol resulted in the "gutting of old Paris, of the quarter of riots and
barricades." He admitted he sometimes used this argument with the Parliament to justify the high
cost of his projects, arguing that they were for national defense and should be paid for, at least
partially, by the state. He wrote: "But, as for me, I who was the promoter of these additions made to
the original project, I declare that I never thought in the least, in adding them, of their greater or
lesser strategic value." The Paris urban historian Patrice de Moncan wrote: "To see the works
created by Haussmann and Napoleon III only from the perspective of their strategic value is very
reductive. The Emperor was a convinced follower of Saint-Simon. His desire to make Paris, the
economic capital of France, a more open, more healthy city, not only for the upper classes but also
for the workers, cannot be denied, and should be recognised as the primary motivation."
[61]

[61]

[62]

There was only one armed uprising in Paris after Haussmann, the Paris Commune from March
through May 1871, and the boulevards played no important role. The Communards seized power
easily, because the French Army was absent, defeated and captured by the Prussians. The
Communards took advantage of the boulevards to build a few large forts of paving stones with wide
fields of fire at strategic points, such as the meeting point of the Rue de Rivoli and Place de la
Concorde. But when the newly organized army arrived at the end of May, it avoided the main
boulevards, advanced slowly and methodically to avoid casualties, worked its way around the
barricades, and took them from behind. The Communards were defeated in one week not because
of Haussmann's boulevards, but because they were outnumbered by five to one, they had fewer
weapons and fewer men trained to use them, they had no hope of getting support from outside
Paris, they had no plan for the defense of the city; they had very few experienced officers; there was
no single commander; and each neighborhood was left to defend itself.
[63]

As Paris historian Patrice de Moncan observed, most of Haussmann's projects had little or no
strategic or military value; the purpose of building new sewers, aqueducts, parks, hospitals, schools,
city halls, theaters, churches, markets and other public buildings was, as Haussmann stated, to
employ thousands of workers, and to make the city more healthy, less congested, and more
beautiful.
[64]

Social disruption[edit]
Haussmann was also blamed for the social disruption caused by his gigantic building projects.
Thousands of families and businesses had to relocate when their buildings were demolished for the
construction of the new boulevards. Haussmann was also blamed for the dramatic increase in rents,
which increased by three hundred percent during the Second Empire, while wages, except for those
of construction workers, remained flat, and blamed for the enormous amount of speculation in the
real estate market. He was also blamed for reducing the amount of housing available for low income
families, forcing low-income Parisians to move from the center to the outer neighborhoods of the city,
where rents were lower. Statistics showed that the population of the first and sixth arrondissements,
where some of the most densely populated neighborhoods were located, dropped, while the
population of the new 17th and 20th arrondissements, on the edges of the city, grew rapidly.
Arrondissement

1861

1866

1872

1er

89,519

81,665

74,286

6e

95,931

99,115

90,288

17e

75,288

93,193

101,804

20e

70,060

87,844

92,712

Haussmann's defenders noted that he built far more buildings than he tore down: he demolished
19,730 buildings, containing 120,000 lodgings or apartments, while building 34,000 new buildings,
with 215,300 new apartments and lodgings. French historian Michel Cremona wrote that, even with
the increase in population, from 949,000 Parisians in 1850 to 1,130,500 in 1856, to two million in

1870, including those in the newly annexed eight arrondissements around the city, the number of
housing units grew faster than the population.
[65]

Recent studies have also shown that the proportion of Paris housing occupied by low-income
Parisians did not decrease under Haussmann, and that the poor were not driven out of Paris by
Haussmann's renovation. In 1865 a survey by the prefecture of Paris showed that 42 percent of the
housing in the city was occupied 780,000 Parisians, or 42 percent of the population, those with the
lowest income who did not pay taxes. Another 330,000 Parisians or seventeen percent, paid less
than 250 francs a month rent. Thirty-two percent of the Paris housing was occupied by middle-class
families, paying rent between 250 and 1500 francs. Fifty thousand Parisians were classified as rich,
with rents over 1500 francs a month, and occupied just three percent of the residences.
[66]

Other critics blamed Haussmann for the division of Paris into rich and poor neighborhoods, with the
poor concentrated in the east and the middle class and wealthy in the west. Haussmann's defenders
noted that this shift in population had been underway since the 1830s, long before Haussmann, as
more prosperous Parisians moved to the western neighborhoods, where there was more open
space, and where residents benefited from the prevailing winds, which carried the smoke from
Paris's new industries toward the east. His defenders also noted that Napoleon III and Haussmann
made a special point to build an equal number of new boulevards, new sewers, water supplies,
hospitals, schools, squares, parks and gardens in the working class eastern arrondissements as
they did in the western neighborhoods.
A form of vertical stratification did take place in the Paris population due to Haussmann's
renovations. Prior to Haussmann, Paris buildings usually had wealthier people on the second floor
(the "etage noble"), while middle class and lower-income tenants occupied the top floors. Under
Haussmann, with the increase in rents and greater demand for housing, low-income people were
unable to afford the rents for the upper floors; the top floors were increasingly occupied by
concierges and the servants of those in the floors below. Lower-income tenants were forced to the
outer neighborhoods, where rents were lower.
[67]

Legacy[edit]
The Baron Haussmann's transformations to Paris improved the quality of life in the capital. Disease
epidemics (save tuberculosis) ceased, traffic circulation improved and new buildings were better-built
and more functional than their predecessors.
The Second Empire renovations left such a mark on Paris' urban history that all subsequent trends
and influences were forced to refer to, adapt to, or reject, or to reuse some of its elements. By
intervening only once in Paris's ancient districts, pockets of insalubrity remained which explain the
resurgence of both hygienic ideals and radicalness of some planners of the 20th century.
The end of "pure Haussmannism" can be traced to urban legislation of 1882 and 1884 that ended
the uniformity of the classical street, by permitting staggered facades and the first creativity for rooflevel architecture; the latter would develop greatly after restrictions were further liberalized by a 1902
law. All the same, this period was merely "post-Haussmann", rejecting only the austerity of the
Napoleon-era architecture, without questioning the urban planning itself.
A century after Napoleon III's reign, new housing needs and the rise of a new voluntarist Fifth
Republic began a new era of Parisian urbanism. The new era rejected Haussmannian ideas as a
whole to embrace those represented by architects such as Le Corbusierin abandoning unbroken
street-side facades, limitations of building size and dimension, and even closing the street itself to
automobiles with the creation of separated, car-free spaces between the buildings for pedestrians.
This new model was quickly brought into question by the 1970s, a period featuring a reemphasis of
the Haussmann heritage: a new promotion of the multifunctional street was accompanied by
limitations of the building model and, in certain quarters, by an attempt to rediscover the architectural
homogeneity of the Second Empire street-block.

The Parisian public now has a generally positive opinion of the Haussmann legacy,
to the
extent that certain suburban towns, for example Issy-les-Moulineaux and Puteaux, have built new
quarters that even by their name claim "Quartier Haussmannien", the Haussmanian heritage.
[citation needed]