Haussmann: His Life and Times, and the Making of Modern Paris

by Michel Carmona, Patrick Camiller

Baron Haussmann, the famous “architect” of modern Paris, has been an enigma for historians for more than a century. But in Michel Carmona, the baron has found a biographer worthy of his fascinating and influential life. Haussmann is not, however, a book only about the controversial prefect of the Seine: Mr. Carmona has effectively set his life against the background of nineteenth-century European society. Exhaustively researched and written with remarkable balance, the book is as much a social and political history as it is a biography. We see Haussmann’s early years and his entry into civic life as an administrator; the problems of urban existence faced by the city of Paris; Haussmann’s reign as the designated chief of Napoléon III’s grand scheme for the renewal of the French capital; and the so-called ”Haussmannization” of Paris. Some observers today still see Haussmann’s grands travaux as the criminal work of a modern Nero—a man intent on destroying old Paris and willing to cook the books and throw poor people out of their homes in order to achieve his ends. Others see him as a clairvoyant creator of the modern, hygienic, and organized city, who created a style that would become a model for urban transformation. Mr. Carmona has examined the record and has written a superb biography that will be of special interest to architects, urban planners, and anyone interested in the life of great cities. With 12 pages of black-and-white illustrations.

Genres: History, France, Architecture, Biography

512 pages, Hardcover

First published March 29, 2002

Reviews

[Pøppy ☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leído en Madrid, Shangai, Corea, Zamora, Santillana del Mar, Valladolid y Pontevedra. Gracias por sostener todo mi tfg Carmona 😘😘😘

[Frank Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some of this book maunders along with stories about individual construction projects and irrelevant side characters, overall, it is a pitch perfect portrayal of a life spent serving the French government in the nineteenth century. Carmona gives a real sense of what a French “administrator” did, at a time and in a country where that career was given a real sense of respect and honor.

Haussmann worked his way up the bureaucratic ladder by commanding provincial districts through successive French governments and revolutions. He was a prefect, a job non-existent in the English-speaking world, but which in France had inordinate power. He built roads, resolved disputes about land and timber, cleaned and created new canals, and recruited political candidates for whatever ruling party happened to be in power. In the ever-centralized French state, these local governors were appointed right out of Paris by the ruling ministry, and, unlike in England and America, the locals, even under a democratic government, had no real say in the matter. Still, Haussmann understood that his job involved dealing with local politicians, and he successfully gerrymandered local districts and cosseted sympathetic newspapers to get the deputies and councillers he needed to get the work down.

But the book becomes truly interesting when Haussman gets appointed Prefect of the Seine, where he becomes the de facto mayor of Paris and where he effectively created the modern city we know today, from the Champs Elysee to the sewers to the Morris poster kiosks to the numerous tree-lined boulevards that intersect the capital. Luckily, Carmona is a former advisor to contemporary French ministers and administrators, so he has a real sense for the financial and legal skullduggery that had to take place to get these tasks accomplished. He shows how Haussmann recruited a local banking family, the Peireres, to subscribe the bonds for his “grand travaux” projects and how they then bought up the valuable new frontage that was built on these roads. Haussmann also arranged a complicated financing scheme with the Credit Foncier, which was a kind of Fannie Mae of the 19th century, set up by the government to fund infrastructure and housing spending. Not surprisingly, Haussmann’s financial maneuvers with this government-sponsored enterprise eventually became a national scandal and brought him down.

Although the transitions between Haussman’s story and the wider political story are not always smooth or logical, Carmona also successfully conveys the vicissitudes of French politics under Napolean III. This emperor of the people (he wrote a book on “the end of pauperism”) became increasingly entangled in an Italian quagmire that helped unify that country but that simultaneously pissed off both liberals and Catholics at home. The downfall of his regime meant that Hausmann’s accomplishments were slighted for generations. Caromona can now show, however, just how much he managed to accomplish.

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est un ouvrage tout-a fait remarquable sur Georges-Eugene Haussman qui a ete le prefect de la Seine sous Napoleon III et donc le responable de grands travaux de renouveau de Paris de l'époque. Le livre a pour but de decrire la vie d'un administrateur de grand talent qui a su assembler une equipe de gestionnaires de grand qualité et guider les maintes projets a travers les labyrinthes politiques et financiere du deuxième.

Aux yeux de Carmona, la grande passion d'Haussman a été la gestion des affaires publiques. Il possedait un énorme talent pour l'administration. Il a rapidement avance dans l'administration de la monarchie Orleaniste. Partout ou l'on mutait, il a commence des travaux de constructions de routes ou il a augmente le rythme de travail des projets entamés par ses predeceseurs.

Haussman etait partisan de Napoleon III parce qu'il croyait que la France avait besoin d'autocrat progressisste qui allait met le poid le sons autorité derriere des travaux de modernisation.

Finallement, Haussman a été surtout le gestionnaire délégué d'effectuer le plan de renouveau concu par Napoleon III. En exile a Londres Napoleon a concu la grande entreprise. Il est arrive en France en 1848 avec des cartes soigneusement prepares des changements qu'il voulait faire. Apres avoir fair le tour de l'horizon, Napoleon III a choisi Haussman pour effectueur le plan de ses reves. La vision appartenait a Napoleon. Haussman a été l'instrument.

Les buts des grands projets ont été les suivants:

-1- creer des grands arteres pour assurer une communication rapide a travers le Paris; et surtout des trajets rapide d'une gare ferrovaire a l'autre.
-2- ameliorer les conditions sanitaires de la ville et l'apprivisionement de l'eau
-3- eliminer des petites ruelles ou les insurges pouvaient eriges des barricades.

En d'autre termes, Haussman voulait un bon systems de routes pour faciliter le development économique de Paris, les meilleurs conditions pour la santé publique et une ville ou les insurgés auraient de la difficulté a resister les forces d'ordre publiques.

Haussman a été un homme de progress de l'ordre. Il ne possedait pas une vision extraordinaire sur plan artistique d'apres Carmona qui est de la vie que les batiments construits étaient sans exception tres mediocres de point de vue architecturale. Ceci dit, Carmona est plutot avare des commentaires sur les idées d'Haussman sur la planification urbain et l'architecture. L'objectif de Car est surtout de decrire le processus politique et le contexte politique des projects d'Haussman. Le resultat est portrait extraordinaire des relations entre un technocrat extraordinaire, un autocrat progressiste et deux paliers de gouvernement. A la fin on comprend bien comment l'etat francaise gouverner la France sous le deuxieme empire. Milles bravos M. Carmona!

[John Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not enough on life post 1870.

[Longie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great research and detail. Sloggy.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really comprehensive book on the Paris of the mid-to-late 1800's and the extensive revamping of the city under Louis-Napoleon and Haussmann, in what were called the "grands travaux," or great works. Plenty of street references and a few historic maps in the appendix send you to your modern day Paris map to imagine the former city (and make you want to seek out the then-and-now type of books about Paris). Narratives about the people, their foibles, their goals and ideals, and the political environment they were in are interwoven with the facts and numbers that describe the enormous scope and effect of the projects. Although the loss of some historic buildings has been lamented, the book points out that much of Paris was still living in the Middle Ages when the works began, and the roads, buildings, and municipal works made a real difference in the lives of Parisians and in the city itself. A great foundation of knowledge for the Paris-lover.

[Elizabeth]

I am just starting this book...more updates soon...never could finish this book. It was too dense - chock-a-block full - of names and characters who played a central roll - mainly Haussmann - in the development of Paris as we know it. It became dry mid-way through the book. Well, the book was dry from the beginning, but after one understands the main players and how the 'planning' system worked in the development of Paris then the dryness really comes out and my final conclusion without having finished the book is that the book is better left to the scholars and people doing research on the subject.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful book with some interesting discussion of the Paris World Fairs as they relate to urban planning upheavals of the mid-19th century. Maybe it's the fault of the translation, but the language in this book seems a little... basic.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written.