Haussmann Boulevard in recognition of the man who rejuvenated Paris

Haussmann Boulevard is lined with the most elegant buildings in Paris. It stretches for over 2,500 m, from avenue de Friedland (300 m from the Arc de Triomphe in the west) to boulevard Montmartre and des Italiens (in the east, a stone's throw from the Musée Grévin). It crosses several districts of the 8th and 9th arrondissements. It is famous for its department stores and luxury boutiques. Boulevard Haussmann has become a showcase for French chic. But that's not all...

Origin of Haussmann Boulevard

Paris has always rebuilt on itself over time, but it's true that the capital's demographic growth in the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century led to considerable densification of the central districts. In the first half of the 19th century, Paris had a population in excess of one million, with narrow, winding, poorly-lit streets. There were also epidemics, including cholera in 1832.
These neighborhoods, located within the ancient walls of Charles V, rectified under Louis XIII, are a maze of narrow streets that impede traffic (in 1851, there were 60,259 carriages in Paris, and the length of all the city's streets combined reached 500 kilometers). The houses housed a growing number of poor people, leading to the insalubrious conditions denounced by the hygienists.
According to the ideas of the time, the narrowness of the streets and the height of the houses prevented the circulation of air and the dispersion of the "miasmas" that carried disease and death.

As a result, the affluent classes increasingly left these neighborhoods for the northern and western suburbs. It was this process of impoverishment of the city center, with its attendant political dangers, that the great works of the 19th century fundamentally addressed.

Napoleon III and Préfet Haussmann

When Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte returned from exile in London in 1848 and was elected President of the French Republic, he was deeply impressed by the airy, modern architecture of the English capital's western quarters, rebuilt after the fire that had ravaged it in the 17th century.

For him, it was the model to follow. In 1850, he declared: "Paris is indeed the heart of France; let us put all our efforts into beautifying this great city, into improving the lot of its inhabitants. Let's open new streets, clean up working-class neighborhoods that lack air and daylight, and let the beneficial light of the sun penetrate our walls everywhere."

Georges Eugène Haussmann, initially prefect of the Gironde department (Town of Bordeaux), made a name for himself by beautifying Bordeaux, by cutting new, straight streets and improving the city's gas lighting and water supply systems.

His mission, as defined by Napoleon III, was to beautify Paris. As part of the transformation of Paris, Prefect Haussmann planned (among other things) this major thoroughfare as a diagonal route linking the first circle of the Grands Boulevards to that of the Fermiers Généraux wall.

This was only possible by destroying numerous neighborhoods. Even the house where he was born, on the corner of rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, was destroyed.

Haussmann's organization and Napoleon III's imagination

Haussmann's and Napoleon's great idea was to establish a policy that would facilitate the "flow of traffic" - people, goods, air and water. Baron Haussmann was a great believer in hygienic theories. Paris had to be aired, access to the then-expanding railway stations had to be facilitated, and circulation between the capital's 80 administrative districts had to be improved.

Various plans were drawn up to redesign the Parisian road network - the emperor himself had his own ideas - until the final plan was adopted. The work involved the mobilization of 80,000 workers, craftsmen, ironworkers, sculptors and others. The project was supervised by the State and financed by loans, but the work was entrusted to private contractors.

Work lasting over 25 years

The work involved not only laying out streets, but also linking them with a sewer and drinking water network. Work was therefore carried out in sectors

Sections E and F were formerly part of boulevard Beaujon.
Section F: between rue de Miromesnil and rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, decree of October 17, 1857.
Section E: between rue du Havre and rue de Miromesnil, decree dated July 16, 1862.
Section D: between rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin and rue du Havre, decree dated December 27, 1865.
Section C: from rue Taitbout and place Adrien-Oudin, to rue La Fayette and rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, decree of February 22, 1868.
Section B: from rue Laffitte to rue Taitbout and place Adrien-Oudin, decree of July 24, 1913, opened in 1926.
Section A: from rue Drouot and boulevard des Italiens to rue Laffitte, decree of January 12, 1922, opened in 1926.

The boulevard was named Haussmann in 1864, during his lifetime and long before it was completed. Baron Haussmann, born in 1809, died in 1891, although the work was not completed until 1926.

It's worth noting that the workforce who built it was largely made up of masons from the Creuse (Massif Central region), who came to Paris to support their families back home.

Work that led to the beautification and modernization of the whole of Paris

First of all, the road network: 64 kilometers of road were laid throughout Paris. These included the extension of the rue de Rivoli, the bd de Sébastopol, the bd Saint-Michel, the development of the Champs-Élysées and the avenue de l'Opéra (not completed until after the end of Napoleon III's Empire).
This led to the almost complete disappearance of the last vestiges of the capital's medieval city... with the exception of its churches. 25,000 houses were destroyed in ten years, but thousands of buildings were rebuilt in the famous "Haussmann style".

The "Haussmannian" touch everywhere in Paris

In his fever for beautification, Haussmann also contributed to the parks and gardens that sprang up in Paris under the Second Empire: the Parc Monceau, transformed by Alphand, one of Haussmann's engineers; the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which had been a gypsum quarry since the Middle Ages; the Parc Montsouris, and so on. More generally, true to his hygienic ideas, Haussmann wanted at least one square in each of the capital's 80 districts.

Baron Haussmann: other works elsewhere in Paris

Haussmann was also keen to embellish public sites:

• the Palais de Justice was completely renovated,
• the Louvre was completed
• and the Palais des Tuileries rehabilitated (before being burned down by rioters during the Commune of 1871).
• Charles Garnier was commissioned to build a new Opera house. Construction began in 1862 and was completed in 1875.
• The Villette abattoirs also date from this period (with Merindol or Janvier - depending on the source - as architect).
• The Hôtel-Dieu (hospital) was designed by architect Emile Gilbert and later by his son-in-law.
• The renovation of Les Halles (1852-1872), "the belly of Paris", was entrusted to Victor Baltard, with his famous pavilions.
• Another major innovation for the time was the installation of a gigantic sewer system beneath the Parisian ground, with the help of engineer Eugène Belgrand. By 1878, there were almost 600 kilometers of sewers in the capital, compared with 100 kilometers in 1850.

In 1860, with the enlargement of Paris to include neighboring communes (Belleville, Les Batignolles, part of Auteuil, etc.), Paris almost doubled its surface area and added almost half a million inhabitants. Under Haussmann's aegis, these new districts were equipped with town halls, schools, barracks, hospitals and more.

The cost of the "Haussmann" works over 25 years

In total, over more than twenty years, two billion gold francs were spent, equivalent to... the annual budget of France. The project was financed by loans. Parisian taxpayers paid the interest until 1914...

Haussmann Boulevard and department stores - the rules of Haussmann style applied

Haussmann Boulevard is bordered by Paris's two biggest department stores, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, elegant and lively hives of activity that attract tourists from all over the world. This is what has made its reputation since the end of the 19th century.

All the buildings on Boulevard Haussmann also follow the rules of the Haussmann style:

Other highlights of Haussmann Boulevard

But there's more to Boulevard Haussmann than these two stores. It's also a lively part of central Paris, with prestigious and historic addresses.

The most dynamic part begins at Place Saint-Augustin and its imposing church, and ends at the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores, by way of the Opéra Garnier. Activity is intense, with bankers, shoppers, cinema-goers and tourists constantly crossing paths.
On the quieter part of the boulevard, at number 158, you'll find the Jacquemart-André museum, dedicated to the fine and decorative arts, with large-scale exhibitions scheduled throughout the year. A stroll along this thoroughfare is also an opportunity to admire some of Paris's most beautiful Haussmann façades, as well as many remarkable buildings.

Addresses that have left their mark

• No. 7: former head office of the Compagnie française du gramophone, distributing the English record brands Columbia and His Master's Voice in France. The painter Marthe Flandrin (1904-1987) created a fresco in the post office. This work was saved from destruction by the Musée des Années Trente in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1992.
• N° 12 : The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) (Reichsleiter Rosenberg Response Team) was a section of the NSDAP Foreign Policy Office, headed by Alfred Rosenberg, within the NSDAP Foreign Office. The ERR was intended as the executive arm of Rosenberg's Hohe Schule (Higher School).
  From 1940 onwards, the ERR carried out major confiscations of property belonging to Jews and Freemasons in territories occupied by the Wehrmacht.
• No. 14: since 2005, headquarters of the Figaro Group, owner of the leading French daily Le Figaro.
• No. 16: Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel. This building was the headquarters of the Gross Paris eastern sector command under German occupation during the Second World War.
• No. 17: last home of Charles Blondel (1807-1877), mayor of Courbevoie from 1865 to 1872. Former headquarters of Banque Transatlantique. Current headquarters of the Danone company.
• No. 31: building where Gustave Caillebotte and Martial Caillebotte lived after their mother's death in 1878, until 1887 (after Martial's marriage). Several of Gustave Caillebotte's paintings depict the view from the apartment's balcony, such as L'Homme au balcon (1880); Homme au balcon, boulevard Haussmann (1880)5 ; Un balcon à Paris (1881)6 and the interior, such as La Partie de bésigue (1881). Today, it is the headquarters of Société Générale (main entrance at No. 29).
• No. 40: Galeries Lafayette Haussmann.
• No. 64: Printemps Haussmann.
• No 67: 1910 headquarters of Société générale pour la fabrication de la dynamite, a company founded by Paul Barbe and Alfred Nobel in 1875.
• No. 79: headquarters of Radio-Paris between 1924 and 1933, then of Banque Commerciale pour l'Europe du Nord, which served as a USSR financing relay for Communist activities in France during the Cold War, from 1965 onwards.
• No. 102: Marcel Proust (1871-1922) moved into this building after the death of his parents, on December 27, 1906. It was a large 6-room apartment on the second floor between street and courtyard, where he saw "the triumph of bourgeois bad taste".
  He lived there until 1919, writing À la recherche du temps perdu.
  Marcel Proust inherited part of the property from his mother, herself an heiress of his great-uncle, and the building was sold at auction in 1907. Marcel Proust remained a tenant until 1919, when a bank bought the building and gave the tenants notice to vacate.
  In 1996, the bank had Marcel Proust's bedroom reconstructed and opened to the public. The room was stripped of its furniture, and is now in the Carnavalet museum. A commemorative plaque has been affixed to the building.
• In front of no. 132, at the corner with rue de Laborde: monument to Baron Haussmann, designed by François Cogné in 1889.
• Note
  The statue of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) created by Paul Fournier in 1888 at the corner of avenue de Messine was destroyed during the Occupation. It had been donated to the City of Paris by a wealthy British woman.
• No. 107: facade decorated with bas-reliefs (1864) by Aimé Millet (1819-1891).
• No. 121: circus artist Charles Franconi died here in 1910. Paris headquarters of the Lazard bank.
• at N°. 134: Geneviève Halévy (1849 - 1926) "held salon" in a vast apartment on the mezzanine floor of this building after her remarriage in 1886 to the Rothschilds' lawyer Émile Straus.
  She had previously been married to composer Georges Bizet (a favorite pupil of her father, composer Jacques Fromental Halévy), who died suddenly in 1875 after giving birth to a son (Jacques Bizet).
  The vast rotunda salon was adorned with paintings by Nattier, Quentin de La Tour and Claude Monet, as well as a portrait of the lady of the house by Jules-Élie Delaunay (1876, now in the Musée d'Orsay).
  Mme Straus entertained every Sunday and acquired a great deal of influence in Paris. Although Jewish and a commoner, she had many connections in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, as well as in the world of arts and letters.
  Her guests included men of letters and artists such as Ludovic Halévy, Henri Meilhac, Edgar Degas, Forain, Paul Bourget, Jules Lemaître, Paul Hervieu, Georges de Porto-Riche, Antoine de Ganderax and Robert de Montesquiou, as well as politicians like Léon Blum, actors like Lucien Guitry, Réjane and Emma Calvé, and foreigners like Lady de Grey, Lord Lytton and George Moore, brought by Jacques-Émile Blanche.
  But she also entertained worldly notables such as Prince Auguste d'Arenberg, Countess Adhéaume de Chevigné, Princess Mathilde, Princess Edmond de Polignac, Countess Greffulhe, Countess de Pourtalès, Duchess de Mouchy, Princess Murat and Count Louis de Turenne. As Ludovic Halévy wrote, "Le salon de Geneviève, le faubourg Saint-Germain y va comme au Chat noir et le Chat noir comme au faubourg Saint-Germain".
  Marcel Proust, a friend and fellow student of Jacques Bizet and Daniel Halévy at the Lycée Condorcet, met Charles Haas, Swann's future model. Geneviève Straus herself is given as one of Oriane de Guermantes' models.
• No. 136: fictitious SPECTRE headquarters in the James Bond film series.
• No 158-158bis: Musée Jacquemart-André. Just a stone's throw from the Champs-Élysées, the home of the Jacquemart-André couple boasts the finest private collection of works of art in Paris, combined with the atmosphere of a grand 19th-century residence. The salons of the mansion house objets d'art and paintings by masters such as Uccello, Mantegna, Botticelli, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Fragonard, Reynolds... The museum is currently closed for renovation. Re-opening in September 2024
• No. 162: building where André Becq de Fouquières (1874-1959) lived and died, man of letters, president of the Parisiens de Paris, founder of the Comité de la courtoisie française and the Comité de prestige et de propagande nationale (commemorative plaque).

Haussmann Boulevard and banks

Boulevard Haussmann is also home to a number of major banks and insurance companies:
n° 29: Société Générale
n° 59: Crédit du Nord
n° 94: Royal Bank of Scotland
n° 121: Lazard Frères

Other highlights of Haussmann Boulevard

But there's more to Boulevard Haussmann than these two stores. It's also a lively part of central Paris, with prestigious and historic addresses.

The most dynamic part begins at Place Saint-Augustin and its imposing church, and ends at the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette department stores, by way of the Opéra Garnier. It's a bustle of activity, with bankers, shoppers, moviegoers and tourists constantly crossing paths.
In the quieter part of the boulevard, at number 158, is the Musée Jacquemart-André, dedicated to the fine and decorative arts, with major exhibitions scheduled throughout the year. A stroll along this artery is also an opportunity to admire some of Paris's most beautiful Haussmann façades, as well as many remarkable buildings.

Films shot on Haussmann Boulevard

Much of Louis Malle's film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958) takes place on Boulevard Haussmann, near rue de Courcelles.
A car scene in Doug Liman's film La Mémoire dans la peau (2002) is also shot on the boulevard.