Saalman Haussmann

8/12/2019 Saalman Haussmann

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HAUSSMANN:PARISTRANSFORMEDHOWARDSAALMAN

GEORGE RAZILLERNEWYORK


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THE REBUILDING OF PARIS, 1852-1870

The great project developedby Naporeon lr and Haussmann om-prised our interrelated arts:streets, ui ldings, arks,and services.Each requires onsideration.STREETS

Earl ier ransformations f paris had alwaysconsisted f addi t ionsto the alreadyexist ingurban fabric (pp.29-44). Napoleon i l 's ideaof restructuringhe ci ty by cutt ingstreets hrough t representedfundamental hangeof approach, ne suggested erhapsby Wren,splan or the rebui tding f Londonafter he 1666 ti re (Fig. /3) , whichhad been caut iouslyappl ied in John Nash'sRegentstreet projectear l ier n the century.ahe Rue de Rambuteau, ui l t under he JulyMonarchy, ad beena f i rst t imid parisianstep in this direct ion Fig.14)' The projectednetworkof arter iarstreets-drawn on a map ofthe ci ty in di f ferentcolors according o their urgency-which Na-poleon l l l out l ined o Haussmann n ig53 expanded his new ap-proach to mid-nineteenth-centuryemandsand expectations Figs.7, 15\.Thesestreetshad a twofoldcharacter: hey existedboth for theirown sakes,as places o l ive and shop according o new standardsof upper middle class aff luence, s a kind of stage for elegant iv-ing, promenading, nd social iz ing n outdoorcaf6sand restaurants,and also as connectingcorr idorsbetweenwhat an up-to-datemid-nineteenth-century an such as Napoleon l l considered ey pointsof the ci ty (Figs.16-17).As l inks l19streets unctioned n two direc-t ions: They providedrapid access rom the rai lwaystat ionsat the

ci ty 's then periphery o the key points at the center (governmentbui ld ings,centra l markets,hospi tars,businessand enterta inmentdistr ic ts) , nd n turn l inked he centra lorgansof administrat ion ndbusiness f i re department, iot porice,amburanceservice,depart-mentstoredel iveries) i th the focal pointsof the ci ty 'svariousquar-ters. The intersections f two or more such arterieswould clearlybecomemajornodesof traff icand urbanactiv i ty.such considerat ions etermined he locat ionand di rect ionof thenew streets Figs.15, 8). Extension f the Rue de Rivol i o the Ruest.-Antoine, hus openingacross he ci ty an east-west xis from theEtoi le o the Basti i le,had arreadybeen startedbefore Haussmann,sadministrat ion. ow a north-southboulevardwas to stretch south-ward rom the Garede l 'Estbetween he old Ruest.-Mart inand Ruest.-Denisand across he l le de la ci te and the Left Bank to the end14


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of the Jardin du Luxembourgwhere a short trunk avenueon axiswith the Palaisdu Luxembourgwould lead to the observatoire.Asecondarynorth-south venue, he Rue de Rennes,would connectthe Gare de Montparnasse t the southernend of the ci ty with thecenter of the Left Bank at the old abbey of st.-Germain-des-pr6s.The already exist ingboulevardsmarking the l ine of wal ls demol-ishedby LouisXIV and making he circui t rom the place de la con-corde to the Basti l le ormed an inner r ing, completedby the con-structionof the Boulevard t.-Germain,which also forms the maininner east-west oute on the Left Bank. Diagonalavenuessuch asthe AvenueNapoleon nowAvenuede l 'op6ra) and the Rue de Tur-bigo were to connect mportantpointsalreadyexist ingor yet to becreated (the Louvre,op6ra, Les Hal lesor central markets,and soon). secondarystreetswould l ink the main boulevardswith key in-st i tut ionsocatedaway rom the major arteries Ruedes Hal les,Ruedu Pont Neuf, Rue des Ecoles,Rue Souff lot,Rue du 4 Septembre,and so on).The exteriorboulevards, nly part ial lycompletedunderthe second Empire, ormed an outer r ing comprisinga secondarynetwork of new streetswhich provided rapid access hrough andaround he major faubourgs. n the east a tr iangleof avenuescon-vergedon the Placede la Nation; n the west radial avenuesweredevelopedaround the place de l 'Etoi le; n the north the Rue La-fayette (part ial lyof earl ier nineteenth-century rigins) connectedthe op6ra intersection i th the Gare du Nord and Gare de l ,Estandcontinuednortheastward ut of the ci ty; in the south he BourevardRaspai l inked the westernend of the Boulevardst.-Germainwiththe Ported' orleans;and in the northwest he BoulevardMalesher-bes connected he peripherywith the businessquarteraround theRueSt.-Honor6-Rue oyale ntersection.The real ization f these new streetscutt ing hrough old quartersinvolved xtensive xpropriat ion nd demori t ion f privatebuirdings.This crucialaspectcould not be carr iedout withouta plan of parisdrawn o the mostexactscare.A pariswhich had grown by gradualaddi t iondid not needand had not suppried uch a pran.Haussmannneeded t and with his customaryeff ic iency rganizeda service duPlan de Parisunder his chief surveyor, he trustworthyDeschamps.Towerswere set up around he town and the .necessaryurveypro_ducedby tr iangulat ion, job which ook a year.BUILDINGS,POLITICS,AND AESTHETICS

Haussmann's uccessas an administrator as basedon his apti -tude for reducing he comprexgovernmentarasks of his day to al imited number of crearlydefined projects capabreof rearization.His success n carryingout the imperiarprogram or paris wourd15


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have been much ress f he or the governmenthe servedhad beendeeplyconcernedwith catering o the wide varietyof sociar,pori t i -cal , and cul turalstratacomposing he nation.such concernwourdhave requirednothing ess han democrat icgive-and-take t ai l po-l i t ical evels, aking nto accountai l the obstacreswhich the conse-quentpol i t ical ompromises ourdhaveposed o rarge-scare,ingre-minded solut ions.Except for concessions o the church in theform of publ ic lysupporteddenominat ionarchoors rongwith secu-lar schools, he Empirenegrected his por i t icar pproacharmostbydef in i t ion. he new paris visual izedby Napoleon l l and by Hauss_mann was to be f i rst a city useful o the pol i t ical nterests hat theEmpire representedabove alr others, a city whose sociar ethos,combiningeconomic iberal ismwith pol i t ical onservat ism,ourdbesummedup: as muchas possibreor the peopre, s r i t i leas possibreby the people. rf the rapidryexpandingeconomy ostered by theEmpireprovideda vast nurnberof new jobs, thus keeping he peas-ants who were streaming o the cit ies content and off the barr i-cades, so much the better. r f sociar benefi ts n the form of anexpandedpubl ic school system,extensiveparks, new sewers andwaterworks, mprovedhealthand recreation aci l i t ies, i l tereddownto the lower middre and working classes,no harm done. rf tradeunions permitted n 1g64)herped o keep ndustr iar eace,so be i t .But al l these benefi tswere part of an overai l program geared pri-mari ly to the needs and object ivesof the upper middre crass inpower.Haussmann'surban aesthet ics"were nothingmore or ress hanan expression f th is basic deal vision.A metropol is ocusedvisu_al ly and funct ionai lyon major inst i tut ions uch as the rairwaysta-t ions, he Tr ibunalde commerce, he Hdterdu Louvre underpr ivatemanagement), harlesGarnier 'snew opera house, he ci ty hal l , hecathedral,and the former monasteryof st.-Germain-des-pres.eo-resents he kind of conceptuar impr i f icat ion y which bureaucratssuch as Haussmann ourd come to terms with the comprexi t ies furban l i fe at mid-nineteenth entury, by which they gained serf-assurance nd the opt imist icconvict ion hat the new industr ial izedsocietycourdactuai lybe governedand its probremsmanaged f notwhol ly resolved.The formal conceptof r inkingmajor architecturar ni ts by granoavenues Fig. 16),of superimposing simplexof monumentalDro_port ionsover a comprexof smai leruni ts,has Baroqueprecedents,part icularry ren's pran, n which radicaravenuesbrokenby ,,star , ,p lazas ink st. pau|s cathedrarwi th the Royar Exchangeand theTowerwhilesimirar t reetsconverge n the Exchange rom the Lon-don Bridgeand the main tower gates (Fig.13).As appried n par isof the SecondEmpire he old concepthad ner,vmpl icat ions.16


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Some of the funct ionaland symbol icuni ts of the new Pariswerealready in existence (rai lway stat ions, the National Assembly,Bourse, Madeleine and Rue Royale complex, Panth6on,Notre-Dame,an enlargedH6tel de Vi l le,Arc de Tr iomphe,Colonnede laBasti l le, nd so on). Othershad yet to be createdor re-created LesHal les,ministr ies, ourts,hospi ta ls, ew operahouse,new barracks,f i re stat ions,pol ice stat ions,secular and denominat ionalpubl icschools,mair ies or the old and new arrondissemenfsf the grow-ing c i ty , heaters, nd so on),and st i l l otherssuch as the Louvre, heUnivers i t6, nd the Palaisde Just icerequiredenlargemento func-t ion on a new scale.Some exist inguni ts such as the Arc de Tr i -omphe,Notre-Dame, nd the fragmentaryower of the old churchofSt.-Jacques- la-BoucherieTour St.-Jacques) ere isolated n geo-metr ical lyordered open spacessurroundedby Second Empire n-st i tut ional nd apartmentbui ld ings.

Haussmann's enchant or l in ing up boulevards n bui ld ingsandmonuments f vary ingproport ions nd importancehas been muchdiscussed.5 he focus has been on aberrat ions uch as the insig-ni f icantdome of the Tr ibunalde Commerce Fig.20),which was de-l iberately isplaced o the west s ide of the bui ld ing o form a moreor less ef fect ivevisual terminat ion or the BoulevardS6bastopol ,or the al ignment f the BoulevardHenri V and the PontSul lyon theColonnede la Bast i l leat one end and on the dome of the Panth6onatthe other,al though he boulevard oes not extend o the Panthdonbut swervesoff to the west at the foot of the Left Bank to form theBoulevardSt.-Germain.The transformat ionof smal l -scalecomplexi ty nto monumentals impl ic i tywas carr ied o i ts extremeconsequences n the l le de laCite (Flgs. 19-20). Between 1853 and 1870 Haussmannchangedthis bust l ingcore of the old c i ty-containing a score of churchesand monaster ies, ome 14,000 nhabi tants, nd a t ight network ofdozensof streets, l leys,and quayscrowdedbetween he cathedraland the old royalpalace- into an inst i tut ionai entercompris ing hegigant icPalaisde Just ice (bui l t nto the old royal palace), he Tr i -bunal de Commerce, he central hospi ta l (Hdtel Dieu), the nowwhol ly isolatedcathedralwi thout i ts former c lo istersand wi thoutthe former archbishop'spalace,and several large barracks (oneof which later became he Prefecture f Pol ice).A smal l f ragmentof resident ia l t reets emainedat the northeast orner of the is land;the truncated r iangularPlaceDauphine seepp.34-36),whoseeast-ern side had to make way for the great new wing of the PalaisdeJust ice, urv ivedat the westernend. The Pont Neuf also remained,more ndispensablehan ever as part of the secondmajor east-westcrossingat t f ie center of town. Thoroughlyoverhauledby EugdneEmmanuelViol let- le-Duc nd separated rom its former urban con-

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text by the gigant ic rectangurar race du parvis in front and by apleasant i t te park on the side and in back, Notre-Damebecamesomewhat ess he town cathedrar nd rathermorea nat ionarmonu_mentand a centrarobject of the increasingry opurarcurt of Frenchhistor icar eminiscencen which Gothic architectureand the pariscathedral n part icular played an important role ( for instance inVictorHugo's NotreDamede paris,f i rst publ ished n 1g31).Architecturar, curpturar, nd pictor iar ef inementswere second_ary in this transformation f paris, and comparisonswith the waysuch programswere carr iedout in the days of LouisXrV and LouisXV are not frat ter ing o the new age. This was ress a matter ofparsimony han of taste; for the decorat ionof the expanded Hotelde Vil le, he new wings of the Louvre,and the new Opera no ex_pense was spared and the best avai lable alent was hired. F._J.Duban'swing of the ecoredes Beaux-Arts 1g60-1g62)s a work ofdist inct ionand Henri Labrouste'sgreat readingroom at the Bibr i_othdque Nationare 1962-1g68), masterpiece.But the somewhatmechanicarexuberanceof the new Louvre pavir ions L.-T.-J.Vis-cont i and H' M. Lefuer,1952-1g57; ig.21) andof Garnier,sop6rarepresenthe essence f Naporeon r 's concept ions f eregance ndluxu y. i. {aussmann'sapproach o architecturar esignwas character ist ic:I ts dif f icult ies ourdbe resorved y sound administrat ion. ince Na_poreon's t ime, architectshad been trained n both the Ecorepory_techniqueand the Ecoredes Beaux-Arts. aussmann rearry eanedto the technicarside. A we1-organized ervice d,Architecturewithcivi l servicestatusand fr inge benef i tswould,he was certain,at tractthe best art ist ic tarents.Arthough he art ist ic ski i l of the men in_volved in the Servicewas ri t te better than average,Haussmann,sbureaucrat ic ontrorover his art ist icsubordinates ccasionaryhadposit ive esurts.Victor Bartard,who had evorveda brockhouse_rikedesign for the pavir ionsof Les Hares and had begun to erect thef irst of them (to the dismay of the inhabitants f the quarter whonicknamed he structure he "Fort des Hailes, ,) as forced o demor_ish t; pushedby Naporeon nd Haussmann, e turned o the creat iveuse of iron construct ion n the f inar project (Fig.22) Ior which helater claimedexclusive redit .

PARKS AND PROMENADESsurroundedand sustainedas he was by men of affairsand tech-nicians,Naporeon was at hearta romant ic, iven o impursive n_thusiasmsquickry otowed by caut ious etrenchment.Haussmann,usual lyeager o craimprior i tyof concept ion or ,n" ""r ' "" , aspects18


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of the Parisproject,attr ibuted he idea for the great park develop-ments at the extremesof the ci ty and for the various parkletsthroughout he center ent i rely o the Emperor.There is a hint ofapology,almostof skept ic ism,as he out l ines he expendituresorthe parks.He makes t c lear that he does not share the Emperor 'si l lusions 6n6reuses bout he posit iveeffects hese parkswi l l haveon the morals and customs of the working classes.Commentingretrospect ivelyn 1890,he notes that no such posit iveeffects arediscernible.However,as a convinced part isanof the bel ievers nfresh air and sunshineas a meansof prevent ing pidemicdiseasein crowdedcit ies,he was wi l l ing o admit hat such greenareasandthe trees plantedalong the new boulevards erveda purpose.Actual lyhe was fascinatedwith the resolut ionof the formidabletechnical problemsby the able park designer,Adolphe Alphand,and, being a pract icaladministrator, e found i t possible o just i fythe expenditure s equired for the art i f ic ia l akes, grottoes,water-fal ls,greenhouses,nd zoologicalgardenswhich del ighted he Em-peror and the publ ic in terms of the r is ing land valuesaround theparks and the increased evenues hat resulted o the city. Furtherincomecame from the concessionairesnd vendorswho providedservicesand entertainment.The Bois de Boulogne,a former royal hunt ingpreserve,was thef irstobjectof attent ion Figs.23-25).With i ts lakesand promenadesand the nearby Longchampsracetrack (developedon adjoiningpubl ic land by a Jockey Club syndicateheadedby the Emperor 'sstepbrother),t remains o this day the largestand most fashionableof Paris ianparks.Simi lar parks at somewhatsmal lerscale but atno less cost were developed n the east (Bois de Vincennes,Fig.26), the northeast ButtesChaumont),and the south (Montsouris),whi le in the northwest he Park Monceau,a refurbishedormer or-l6ans possession, ecame he focal point of the fashionable uarrerdevelopedby the real estate company control ledby the brothersrmile and IsaacPereire,r iendsof Haussmann.Whatever he depth of the Emperor 'sconcern for the wretchedpoor, the new parks were a success n terms of pract icalpol i t icsand becameone of the long-termaccomplishments f the regime.Napoleonwas lackingas a strategist nd internat ional ip lomat,buthe understoodwel l what Frenchmenand women of al l ages andclassesenjoyed-after al l , he was a Frenchman.SERVICES

An expandingParisenjoyedparksbut the city also neededbetteri l luminat ion,reshwater,sewers Figs.27, 2g|, andadequate eme-ter ies.Haussmann rovidedample gas l ight ingbut, though usual ly

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attractedby technical nnovat ions, e dis l ikedand saw no future orelectr ic ight ingand regretted ts introduct ion n the 1880's.Hauss-mann'schief of water services,EugdneBelgrand,has lef t his owndocumented ccountof the greataqueductand sewerconstruct ionscarr iedout under he Empire.Here was a projectclosest o Hauss-mann'sown preferences nd capabi l i t ies, nd i ts planningand re-al izat ion emainamonghis most ast ingaccompl ishments. ided bythe able Belgrand,Haussmannmore than doubled he fresh watersupplyof the ci ty by tappingsourcesas far as a hundredmilesawayin the Yonne(Fig.28),Vanne,and Dhuisr iverval leysand by br ing-ing the water to Parison aqueductsunequaled ince Roman imes.The sewer system is no less impressive.A capi l lary network ofstreet sewers emptied by gravi tat ionalact ion into large el l ipt icalcol lectors ' ewerswhich carr ied he drainage rom al l parts of theci ty northwestwardo empty nto the Seine at Asnidres,wel l belowParis (Fig.30). The sewers were accessible or easy maintenanceand were cleanedwith water-propel ledmechanical evices.Hauss-mannhadno newsolut ion o the problemof el iminat ing umanwasteswhich, earfulof contaminat ion, e would not al low to f low into thesewer system.But he lef t Pariswithout stagnantwater standing nthe streetsand with the f lood dangerappreciably educed.uHaussmann's enchant or mechanicalsolut ions o large-scaleproblems ed him to fai lure n resolving he cemeteryquest ion.Na-poleon I 's cemeteries f Montmartre, dre Lachaise, nd Montpar-nasse,establ ishedust outside he then l imitsof the ci ty, had beenengulfedby the extension f the municipal imits n 1g60and werereaching heir capaci ty.Haussmann iewed his as primari lya prob-lem of sani tat ion o be resolvedby a sui table echnical solut ion.character ist ical ly,n 1864he appointeda commission f engineers,includingBelgrand, o f ind a proper ocat ion. he engineersavoreda si te at M6ry-sur-oise, ome thir teenmiles northwestof paris. Asinglegigant iccemetery, o serveal l of paris,was to be connectedwith the ci ty by a special unerary ai lwaywith departures rom thethree major cemeteries n the ci ty. Insensi t iveo the negat ivepsy-chologicalovertones f this " i ron horseexpress o the grave" con-cept ion,Haussmannound himselfunprepared or the popularout-cry his proposal aised,and nothing inal lycame of i t .MONEY

The "Comptes antast iques 'Haussmann" the sat i r ic t i i le of aseriesof ant i -Haussmannrt ic lespubl ished n 1g67by Jules Ferryin the ournal remps) ' /became pol i t icalhouseholdword in the lastyears of the Empire,and i t was the pol i t icsof money hat eventu-

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al ly led to Haussmann's ol i t icaldecl ine.Chargesof personalcor-rupt ioncould not be sustained gainsthim: He was ambit ious, rro-gant ,and suscept ibleo the spel l of powerfulmen of businessandgovernment, ut fundamental ly onest .Aggr ievedpr ide led him torefusea generous mper ialset t lement pon his sudden resignat ionear ly in '1870.He did not ef fect ively nt ic ipate he rapid fal l of hisprotectorand had to l ive out his remaining wentyyearson a mod-est prefectural ensionand a small outside ncome.

It was not Haussmann's onduct but the economic and pol i t icalguidel ines f the Empire hat were under at tack n the late 1860's.Napoleon l l had come o powerdur ing an economic ecession. hecoup d'6tat of 1852and the proclamation f the Empire set off aneconomicboom that cont inued or wel l over a decade.But the im-per ialmachine an on an unstablemixtureof credit : he propel lant ,shocking o conservat ive ankersand t radit ionaleconomists,wasdef ic i t inancing. uch inancing f badlyneedednat ional nvestmentin a t ime of rapidly expandingpopulat ionand product ion s, topresent-day conomistsnurturedon the teachingsof Lord Keynes,quite just i f iable. ts just i f icat ion n the 1850'swas the ant ic ipat ionthat the increased ax revenues ccruing o the city from an expand-ing economywouldsuff ice o pay off the long-term ebtscontractedfor publ ic works. The idea was current in Saint-Simonian irc lesaround Napoleon l l ; Haussmann laimed (probablywishful ly) ohave or iginated t . The rapid expansionof industryand commercewas basedon simi larpr inciples.Old- l inebankers uch as the Roths-chi ldsbackedoff , but a new breedof enterpr is inginanciers ike hePereirebrothersand their bank, he Cr6dit Mobi l ier ,which workedwith capital drawn f rom smal l and large investors,umped in withboth feet. Their expectat ions ere r ichly rewarded.

Haussmann egan his f inancingwith a ser ies of municipalbondissues old o the publ icat large,with venturesome anks aking heremainder.Such debentures, uthor ized y the legis lature, overedonly a smal l part of the projectedout lays.The Emperor hereuponsupported he creat ionof a Caissedes Travauxwith l imited undingand the author i ty o issue ts own bonds to a l imit of 100 mil l ionfrancs.This f loat ingdebt was not author ized y the legis lature, utexpendituresar beyondeven his sum were on Haussmann's lan-ning boards.For their real izat ion e resorted o f inancialexpedientscompletelybeyond the control of the elected body and for someyears kept so secret that , though not actual ly l legal, hey gravelycompromisedHaussmann's osi t ion.Contractswere writ ten whichobl igated he contractors ot only to carry out the work but to paycompensat ionor expropr iatedproperty, n short to assume al l f i -

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nancialburdensof the project.The contractors,natural ly,did nothave the capital to cover the costs which amounted o mil l ionsoffrancs.Just as naturai ly, ankswourdnot advancesuch moneys ocontractorson the strengthof a city contractaward alone.Hauss-mann's inancial nnovat ion ay in the expedientof formaltyconsid_ering a project "compreted" before it was begun. This formari tyobl igated he city to pay the contractor he agreed-upon um in in-stal lmentswith interestand to give him negot iable onds (so-cal ledbons de delegat ion)n r ieuof this obrigat ion. he contractors,withHaussmann ct ing as intermediary,ound ri t t redif f iculty n persuad-ing the governmentmortgagebank, the credit Foncier (whose di-rectorwas favorabreoward the imperiar chemes or paris),to ad-vance the required unds in exchange or the bonsde d6t6gat ionwhich were accepted at discount,an advantageous ffair for thebank since the ci ty 's credit was good and the r iskssmal l .In pract ice he operat ionsimpryai lowed he city to froat a rargedebt without formar authorizat ion rom the regisrat ive ody, sincethe city merely undertook obl igat ionswhile the contractorsbor_rowed the money; but the necessaryexpedientof giving the con-tractorsa legarcraimagainst he city beforeany work *u" donu *u"highlyquest ionable. hen one considers hat by this methodHauss_mann raised harf a bi i l ion of the two and one-harfbi i l ion francsspent on the transformationof paris during his t ime in off ice,whereasonly roughryone-thirdof the totarwas coveredby the sur-plus of r is ing city receiptsover ordinaryexpenditures-the magrcresource of the saint-simonists- i t becomes clear why pori t icalt rouble was bound to foi low.The probremwas not mereiy hat theful l extentof the work, part icular ly he enormous ostsof aqueductsand sewers,had not been and courd not be adequatery oreseenbut also that the very economicexpansron t imurated y def ic i t i -nancingreleaseduncontroi labrenfrat ionaryorces.Ai l pr ices rosesteeply n the decadeafter1g52,and the f inarcostsof the vast con-struct ion projects far overshotai l prer iminary st imates.The costof expropriat ionn part icurar, ubject o pori t icar ressure nd coi lu-sion, was higher than ant ic ipated, nd as a specif icai lypubric as-pect of Haussmann'swork it was open to constant cr i t ic ism andcomment.The expropriat ionuries, hough guidedby the appraisarsof the incorrupt ibre urveyorDeschamps, ere oftenmore han gen-erous,and propertyowners resorted o al l the devicescommon nsuch circumstances o increase heir cra ims against he crty. Tosome, eft out of the pork barrer, t seemedas if therewere no fasterway to make a ki i l ing than to be expropriated. he big rear estateoperators,he Cr6ditMobi l ier n part icular,were quick to buy up al lavai lable property alongside he newly created boulevaros.cor_ZZ


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rect ly ant ic ipat ing he enormous ise in these propert ies 'value asthe new streets became he pr ime sites for fashionable esidenceand commerce.In a f inal account ing,however, t must be acknowledged hatHaussmann'sdeasof def ic i t inancingprovedcorrect .The tax baseof Par is grew along with the economic expansionmade possibleby the ci ty 's ransformat ion,nd surplus ncomeeventual ly overedthe out lay many t imes over. By the t ime of Haussmann's eath in1891,when the pol i t icalc lamorof the 1860'shad died down, t wasgeneral lyadmit ted hat Par is could not only af ford o do what wasdone, t could not haveafforded ot to do i t .There is anothereconomicaspect of the transformat ion f Par isthat should be emphasized. l thoughmuch has been wr i t ten about

the typicalapartmenthouseswhich rose along Haussmann's oule-vards (Figs.32,82), not enough mportancehas been given to thefact that al l of th is housingwas bui l t by pr ivateenterpr ise. n sheervolume his construct ion or elegantcommercialbui ld ingsand up-per middle class residencesar outstr ipped he bulk of publ ic workdone n Haussmann'sime and after. t is easy o sneer n retrospectat the greed for fast speculat iveprof i tswhich mot ivated he bui ld-ers: undoubtedly ortunes ,veremade (and somet imes ost) in realestate n those years.But what planner today can ant ic ipatewithequalassurancehat the lots of his best urban projectswi l l actual lybe bui l t up with the requiredcommercialand resident ial t ructureswithout nvestment f publ ic unds?To be sure, he Napoleonic ov-ernmentencouraged uch enterpr isewith tax exempt ionsand easycredit , but the very fact that so much was bui l t so quickly to ac-ceptableaesthet ic nd structural tandardswith pr ivate undsaloneis proof of the fact that the Second Empire plannershad correct lyest imatedboth needs and possibi l i t ies n the second half of thenineteenth entury."Need," urban or otherwise, an be var iouslydef ined.The lowersocial c lassesof Par isalso neededa better ci ty and a bet ter l i fe.Although hey benef i teddirect ly rom some of the Napoleonicproj-ects such as parks,sewers,and schools,and signif icant ly houghindirect ly rom the seemingly ndlessopportunit iesor work whichthe Haussmann ra created, t cannot be said that the Second Em-pire catered o the workingclassesas i t d id to i ts immediate l ients,the upper middleclass.The needsof a social group becomean ef-fect iveobl igat ionon government nly when backed up by pol i t icalpower which cannot be denied. The lower middle and workingclassesof France did not have the organizedpol i t ical power re-quired,and the second Empire ound t possible o neglect heir de-mands if not to ignore them altogether.How to convince he tax-

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payingsegmentof the populat ionhat tax moneyshouldbe spent osatisfy he demandsof the low or non-taxpaying egment emainsaperennial pol i t ica l problem of a l l governments.Rather than con-demning he second Empire or i ts glar ing pol i t ica land socia l de-f ic iencies, t seemsmore useful o point out that the upper middleclass at mid-nineteenth entury also had speci f ic and undeniable"needs" involv ing he shapeand characterof thei r c i t ies.They hadthe pol i t ica land economicpower o back up their demands; onse-quent ly heir demandswere met and their expectat ionsul f i l led.


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NOTESINTRODUCTION

1. See H. van Werveke, The Rise of the Towns. Town population."The Cam-bridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. l l l (Cambridge:Universitypress, 1963),p. 37f. See also A. F. Weber,The Growthot Cit ies n the NineteenthCentury (NewYork: Columbia University Press, 1899; and lthaca: Cornell Reprints in UrbanStudies,1963).

2. For Pinkney, ee Bibl iography, . 122.3. For Alphandand Belgrand, ee Bibl iography, . 122.

THE REBUILDINGOF PARIS4. For these projects,see John Summerson,GeorgianLondon (New york, 1946;reviseded., 1962),pp. 177't.5. L. R6au and Pierre Lavedan,L'Oeuvre du Baron Haussmann, r|tet de taSeine (1853-1870) Paris,1954),pp. 70f.6. For a more detai leddiscussion, ee DavidH. pinkney,Napoleon ttand the Re-building ot Paris (Princeton: University press, 1956), Chap. VI: , ,paris Under-ground," pp. 127t.7. Jules Ferry (1832-1893),awyer, ournalist, nd statesman, pposed he 169imeof Napoleon l l . Elected republicandeputy in 1869,he was mayor of paris duringthe long siege of .1870. He later held various mportantministr ies,was premier n1880-1881, ought for freedom of the press,secondaryschooling or women,andwas a proponentof French colonial expansion.A middle-of-the-roadepublican,he drew f ire from both the poli t icalextremeright and left.At the t ime of his deathhe was presidentof the Senate.

CRITICALEVALUATION:8. For a brief discussion,see Lavedan'sart ic le, ,,L, inf luencede Haussmann:L'Haussmannisation"n L'Oeuvre du Baron Haussmann, pp. 142t. On Vienna:George R. and C. C. Coll ins,"The Transformation f Vienna,; 'chap.4 of Camil lositte and the Birth ot Modern city planning New york: Random House, 1965),pp.34f. The characterand effect of Haussmannesque rban transformationsn majorcit ies outside France remains o be studied in detai l . See FranEoisechoay, TheModern city: Planning n the 1gth century (planningand cit ies ieries) New york:GeorgeBrazil ler, nc.,1969), p. 15-22.9. see Henry-RussellHitchcock, Architecture: Nineteenth nd rwentieth centu-r les (Balt imore:PenguinBooks,1958;2nd edit ion,1963),pp. 131f.10. For example,G. Pil lement,Destructionde paris (paris,c. 1941).11. Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life ol Great American clt ies (New york: Ran-dom House,1961).12. The Cultureot Cit ies New york: Harcourt,Brace,and Company,193g).' l3. see sigfr ied Giedion,space, Time and Architecture cambridge,Mass.:Har-vard universityPress,1941and later edit ions),part icularlyhis chapleis on Hauss-mann,which have createda renewalof interest n the subiect.14. Ibid.,4th ed., 1962,pp. 668,678.15. bid..p. 678.16. bid., pp. 671-672.

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Saalman Haussmann