Baron Haussmann & Paris Reconstruction

Georges-Eugène Haussmann was born on 27 March 1809, the son of Nicolas-Valentin Haussmann and of Ève-Marie-Henriette-Caroline Dentzel, both of German families. His paternal grandfather Nicolas was a deputy of the Legislative Assembly. His maternal grandfather Georges Frédéric Dentzel was baron and a general of Napoleon's First Empire. Haussmann began his schooling at the Collège Henri-IV and at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris, he studied law.

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, became the first elected president of France in 1848. In 1850, he started an ambitious project to connect the Louvre to the Hôtel de Ville in Paris by extending the Rue de Rivoli in preparation of the World Exhibition of 1855. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was looking for a new prefect to carry out his Paris reconstruction. The emperor's minister of the interior Persigny has proposed Haussmann after an interview. Napoleon made him prefect of the Seine on 22 June 1853 and gave him the mission of making Paris

healthier,
less congested and
grander.

12 minutes about How Haussmann rebuilt Paris

Georges-Eugène Haussmann, The Man Who Rebuilt Paris

5 Minutes Animation about Paris Reconstruction in French.

Animation about Paris Reconstruction in French

Georges-Eugène Haussmann and Napoleon III make official the annexation of eleven communes around Paris to the City. The annexation increased the size from twelve to the present twenty arrondissements. The main purpose was to help solve the traffic problem in a city and interconnect its landmark buildings.

The reconstruction of Paris lasted from 1853 till 1870. Haussmann had spent 2.5 billion francs on the city, 20% of Parisian workers was employed in the building trade". 40 thousands new buildings were built, 20 squares, 4 parks !!! Paris became a good sample for other capitals.

The Avenue de l'Opéra, one of the new boulevards created by Napoleon III and Haussmann. The new buildings on the boulevards were required to be all of the same height and same basic façade design, and all faced with cream-coloured stone, giving the city center its distinctive harmony.

The signature architectural landmark was the Paris Opera, the largest theatre in the world, designed by Charles Garnier, crowning the center of Napoleon III's new Paris. When the Empress Eugenie saw the model of the opera house, and asked the architect what the style was, Garnier said simply, "Napoleon the Third."

But not only buildings were the goal of reconstruction.

To bring fresh water to the city, his hydraulic engineer, Eugène Belgrand, built a new aqueduct to bring clean water from the Vanne River in Champagne, and a new huge reservoir near the future Parc Montsouris. He laid hundreds of kilometres of pipes to distribute the water throughout the city, and built a second network, using the less-clean water from the Ourq and the Seine, to wash the streets and water the new park and gardens.
He installed miles of pipes to distribute gas for thousands of new streetlights along the Paris streets. Paris became a lighted city.
Napoleon III also wanted to build new parks and gardens for the recreation and relaxation of the Parisians. 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.

Baron Haussmann

To thank Haussmann for his work, Napoleon III proposed in 1857 to make Haussmann a member of the French Senate and to give him an honorary title, as he had done for some of his generals. Haussmann asked for the title of baron, which, as he said in his memoirs, had been the title of his maternal grandfather, Georges Frédéric, Baron Dentzel, a general under the first Napoleon, of whom Haussmann was the only living male descendant. This use of baron, however, was not officially sanctioned, and he remained, legally, Monsieur Haussmann.

His later years were occupied with the preparation of his Mémoires (three volumes, 1890–1893). Haussmann died in Paris on 11 January 1891 at age 82 and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.