The Haussmannian Style


If you have studied the story of the city of Paris and its architecture, you must have heard about the Haussmannian Style. Many buildings and hotels in Paris were built during the 19th Century by the Baron Haussmann, Governor of the Seine area and then Senator of the Second Empire.

His goal was to give a second breath to the city and this is what he specifically wanted to achieve: both clean up the town and push blue collar workers and poor people outside of Paris. He demolished 18,000 houses out of 30,000 and had them replaced by fancy buildings. He also took possession of the close villages so that they became part of the city. This is how many neighborhoods such as Batignolles, Passy, Bercy and Montmartre become grouped in as part of Paris. They were proper towns before they were absorbed by the Capital in its expansion process.

At this time, the hygienist trend was in full swing. Because he had been inspired by the big renovation in London which occurred after the 1666 citywide fire, Georges Eugène Haussmann made it his reference in matter of hygiene and modern town planning. The logistic plan was to facilitate trade, fluids, air and water circulation, as well as public circulation. His campaign was named “Paris nicer, Paris bigger, Paris cleaner”.

Avenues and Boulevards were created, along with the famous Champs Elysees that have been transformed as an Avenue. For a better quality of air, Haussmann also created gardens and parks. Finally, you can not talk about the Haussmannian style without speaking about the architecture of a specific type of building. They are noticeable thanks to their extremely strict design : a Haussmannian building is never taller than six stories and seizes between 40 and 65 feet. Its front wall must be in stone and the second and fifth floor must have a balcony.

Now you know how you can recognize the Haussmannian style which highly typical of the city of Paris.