Georges eugene haussmann biography

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This marked the beginning of his rise through the ranks of the French administration.

Haussmann’s administrative skills caught the attention of influential figures, and in 1848, during the height of the French Revolution, he was appointed Prefect of the Seine by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who later became Emperor Napoleon III.

The position granted him considerable authority and made him responsible for the governance of Paris.

Transformation of Paris

Haussmann’s appointment as Prefect of the Seine would prove to be a turning point not only in his career but also in the history of urban planning.

georges eugene haussmann biography

https://web.archive.org/web/20071022025436/http://nagram.chez-alice.fr/haussmannbio.php. Napoleon III deposed Haussmann on 5 January 1870 in order to improve his own flagging popularity. Historian Robert Herbert says that "the impressionist movement depicted this loss of connection in such paintings as Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère." The subject of the painting is talking to a man, seen in the mirror behind her, but seems disengaged.

The will transferred their estate to the family of their only surviving daughter, Valentine Haussmann.[24]

Legacy

Haussmann's plan for Paris inspired the urban planning and creation of similar boulevards, squares and parks in Cairo, Buenos Aires, Brussels, Rome, Vienna, Stockholm, Madrid, and Barcelona. Haussmann was invited to resign.

All decisions were made by the Emperor. He created twenty small parks and gardens in the neighbourhoods, as miniature versions of his large parks. At the time of their deaths, they had resided in an apartment at 12 rue Boissy d'Anglas, near the Place de la Concorde. "It was a great relief for the city's finances," Haussmann wrote later in his Memoirs "which allowed the city to carry out several grand operations at the same time, with rapid execution, in short more economically."[29] It functioned entirely independently of the parliament, which greatly irritated the members of parliament.[30]

Criticism of the renovation

Haussmann spent 2.5 billion francs on rebuilding Paris, a sum that staggered his critics.[1]Jules Ferry and other political rivals of Napoleon alleged that Haussmann had recklessly squandered money, and planned poorly.

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To accommodate the growing population and those who would be forced from the centre by the new boulevards and squares Napoleon III planned to build, he issued a decree annexing eleven surrounding communes, and increasing the number of arrondissements from twelve to twenty, which enlarged the city to its modern boundaries.

For the nearly two decades of Napoleon III's reign, and for a decade afterwards, most of Paris was an enormous construction site.

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 Napoleon I, of whom Haussmann was the only living male descendant.[17][18] According to his memoirs, he joked that he might consider the title aqueduc (a pun on the French words for 'duke' and 'aqueduct') but that no such title existed.

His father, Nicolas-Valentin Haussmann, was a high-ranking civil servant in Napoleon Bonaparte’s government. Napoleon III and Haussmann launched a series of enormous public works projects in Paris, hiring tens of thousands of workers to improve the sanitation, water supply and traffic circulation of the city. His prefect of the Seine, Berger, protested that Paris did not have the money.

He demolished neighbourhoods- one could say, entire cities. Although his father’s career provided the family with a comfortable lifestyle, Haussmann’s childhood was marked by the political unrest and upheaval of the time.

Haussmann received a well-rounded education, attending the Lycée Henri-IV and later studying law at the University of Paris.

The Emperor's ambitions were much greater. His insistence on comprehensive city planning that took into account the needs and well-being of the population laid the groundwork for modern urban planning principles.

Haussmann’s legacy continues to spark debate and inspire discussions about the role of urban planners in shaping the future of cities.

Napoleon III created the Bois de Boulogne (1852–58) to the west of Paris, the Bois de Vincennes (1860–65) to the east, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont (1865–67) to the north, and Parc Montsouris (1865–78) to the south.[15]

In addition to building the four large parks, Haussmann had the city's older parks, including Parc Monceau, formerly owned by the Orleans family, and the Jardin du Luxembourg, refurbished and replanted.