Ah, Paris! Wide, tree-lined boulevards, green spaces, impressive architecture, and amazing food! You certainly aren’t talking about Paris of the mid-nineteenth century! The Paris we have today is thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew Emperor Napoleon III and a French official with a dream, Georges-Eugène Haussmann.
Place Saint-André-des-Arts before the renovation of Paris. Photo by Charles Marville, 1865.
Before Haussman and Napoleon III, Paris looked much as it had for centuries: dark, narrow, winding medieval streets and little modernization in the form of sidewalks and sewers. Cholera epidemics raged thanks to poor sanitation and overcrowding. Traffic was also a major problem; winding roads meant no easy way for someone to cross Paris and many were only around 7 feet across, meaning carriages couldn’t pass one another. One contemporary social reformer 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."
What began was one of the largest public works projects Europe had ever seen. In a public speech in 1853, Napoleon III declared, “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.” The medieval Paris would be gone in favor of the modern and clean. Haussman began work immediately under orders to aérer, unifier, et embellir or “ventilate, unify, and beautify” Paris.
The Bievre River was used to dump the waste from the tanneries of Paris. It would then empty into the Seine River. Photo by Charles Marville, 1865.
Opening of the new Avenue de l'Opéra, Paris. Photo by Charles Marville, 1877.
While the most obvious impact of the renovation was to create the wide, neighborhood-connecting streets, extensive parks, and impressive new buildings, the improved infrastructure had even more of an impact. Paris was a growing city with an increased need for drinking water. Haussman improved not only the water distribution but also the sewer system by creating systems under the city streets. Before, the sewer was only able to manage liquid waste. Solid waste was picked up and carried out of the city each night to be dumped in the countryside by people called vidangeurs. The expanded sewer system was also able to manage rainwater that would previously overflow the Seine causing frequent flooding of Parisian basements and roads. The underground tunnel system also allowed the city to run gas for lighting and heat, making it possible for Paris to become the city of lights.
L'Avenue de l'Opéra depicted after completion in Place du Théâtre Français, Paris: Rain by Camille Pissarro, 1898.
Paris Street Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte, 1877. Depicts the wide boulevards of Haussmann's Paris.
Some neighborhoods were transformed while others that were considered slums were demolished. There was massive social disruption with many families and businesses that needed to relocate. While there was pushback, these demolitions were generally justified in the name of health and safety. Although the work was to initially be completed in only two years for the Paris Universal Exposition of 1855, work stretched until 1927. Quality of life in Paris improved as a result of the renovations with less disease, better traffic, and better quality buildings. You can still see Haussman’s mark on Paris today.