ancient cities

drinking water. Haussmann gave orders to tap two
unpolluted rivers several hundred miles east of the
capital. The construction of aqueducts and canals
to bring clean water to Paris cost a fortune, but it
improved sanitary conditions dramatically. Finally,
Haussmann created 24 public squares and parks,
offering urbanites artfully designed excerpts of
French natural geography.
Both scale and speed of the transformation de
Paris were dazzling. But what impressed visitors to
the capital most was that all these improvements
were inextricably linked to embellishment. Few
new arteries demonstrated Haussmann’s aesthetical
preferences more convincingly than the Avenue
de l’Opéra.
This artery was destined to become one of the
most prestigious avenues due to the construction
of the New Opera. Begun in 1861, it was clear that
Charles Garnier’s masterpiece would become the
ultimate temple of bourgeois opulence. Thus, it
deserved to be highlighted by a monumental axis.
To further visual drama, every obstacle was
removed. Haussmann destroyed recently built
apartment blocks and ordered the clearing of a
natural elevation, the Butte des Moulins as well.
Much more land was obtained than was needed
for the new road. Its flanks were reserved as
building sites for monumental new apartments.
Haussmann made sure that developers strictly
obeyed his architects’ supervision. Façades should
be stately, uniform, and symmetrical, not distracting
the eye of the pedestrian from the main objective,
the Opéra.
A National Showcase
Paris was to become the showcase of the nation.
By combining massive expropriation with the twin
techniques of axialiaty and symmetry, the special
effects of urban design, Haussmann drew the visitor’s
attention to icons of French glory such as the
Arc de Triomphe. Older monuments such as the
Gothic Tour St. Jacques were disengaged to bear
witness to the city’s venerable past. Indeed, the
prefect created the city as a work of art.
The human toll, however, was considerable.
With the destruction of an estimated 27,000 premises,
some 350,000 slum dwellers were removed
from the central areas. At first, they took for the
petite banlieue, still within the walls of Paris. But
Haussmann, Baron Georges-Eugène
345
after its annexation in 1860, Haussmann continued
his social cleansing. By raising excises on raw
materials, he forced industry, rail depots, and
other undesirable land users outside city limits.
They took their workforce with them. Thus, he
created the grim grande banlieue. Its social stigma
haunts French governments to this day. No foreign
visitor set foot in this urban wilderness that ringed
the city. They came for the splendor of New Paris,
the city that continued slum clearance and embellishment
well after Haussmann’s abdication in
1870, creating an almost exclusively bourgeois
residential domain of unprecedented size.
International Impact
Haussmann was admired no more in France than
in other countries. For the many new states in
Europe, Paris became the design standard for a
capital that would be instrumental in forging a collective
national identity and convincing foreign
visitors that here was a modern and prestigious
nation state. Brussels, Budapest, and Rome testified
to the impact of Paris.
To emulate Haussmann’s grands travaux, a first
requirement was a strongly centralized national
administration, capable of taxing the nation to the
benefit of the capital. This was no easy task, given
the predominantly rural outlook of both France
and its emulators. To suppress the widespread
protest from rural communities, an authoritarian
implementation of such a centralist structure was
a second prerequisite. It also provided Haussmann
with the legal instruments to proceed energetically.
During his reign no less than 80 Imperial Decrees,
issued in a matter of days, ordered the compulsory
purchase of all the property that stood in the way
of his plans. The mounting debts of the compensation
costs were carried by the state.
Such preferential treatment of the capital was
unthought of in a country like Great Britain.
Dominated by liberal laissez-faire politics, it had a
decentralized administration that denied special
privileges to any city. Each expropriation of
private property required a separate Act of
Parliament.
Thus, despite widespread admiration for Haussmann’s
work, nothing much happened in London
as a result. Legal and political obstacles were not the
only barriers. The dominant residential culture in