Background
Georges-Eugène Haussmann was born in 1809 in Paris, France. The house in which he was born was demolished during his renovation of the city. Haussmann's family originated from Alsace.
Georges-Eugène Haussmann was born in 1809 in Paris, France. The house in which he was born was demolished during his renovation of the city. Haussmann's family originated from Alsace.
Exceedingly ambitious, initially he studied at Collège Henri-IV and at the Lycée Condorcet, then law solely with the aim of becoming an administrator within the prefectorial corps.
He was appointed prefect of the Seine in 1853. The instigator of the beautification of Paris was Napoleon III, who admired London, especially its squares. Such a program of beautification would in addition stimulate the banks and solve the problems of unemployment. Haussmann spent a total of 2, 115, 000, 000 francs, the equivalent of $1. 5 billion in today's currency. Haussmann began by continuing the Rue de Rivoli as a great east-west link across Paris and by developing the areas of the Louvre and the Halles. He brought a competent engineer named Alphand from Bordeaux to continue the development of the Bois de Boulogne.
Other acquaintances were introduced into the administration, notably in the construction of the famous sewers. The sewers, although underground, did not go unnoticed; Haussmann ensured that they became showplaces and even provided transportation for their viewing. One critic cynically considered the sewers "so fine that something really great should happen in them" (Memoires). Three-quarters of the Ile de la Cité was destroyed to create a central area for the Palais de Justice and police headquarters and barracks. The Boulevard de Sebastopol, beginning at the Gare de l'Est, was extended across the Ile to provide a north-south route across Paris. The Gare du Nord was linked to the business district by the Rue La Fayette. Radial roads linked the core of the city to the suburbs. A green belt around the fortifications linking the Bois de Boulogne in the west to the Bois de Vincennes in the east did not materialize.
Haussmann was forced to retire in 1869, having succumbed to his critics, who accused him of "Haussmannomania, " heavy spending, and disrespect for the laws governing finance. One of his last acts for Napoleon III was the drafting of a proclamation for the siege of Paris in 1870.
Quotations: Haussmann stated, "My qualification? I was chosen as demolition artist" (Memoires, 3 vols. , 1890-1893).
He was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1867.
He was married on 17 October 1838 in Bordeaux to Octavie de Laharpe. They had two daughters: Henriette, who married the banker Camille Dollfus in 1860, and Valentine, who married Vicomte Maurice Pernéty, the chief of staff of his department, in 1865. Valentine divorced Pernéty in 1891. She then married Georges Renouard (1843–1897).