Paris Reborn by Stephane Kirkland: book review

Paris Reborn: Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City (2013) is the remarkable history of the reconstruction of the city of Paris in a mere 22 years – 1848-1870 – during  the Second Empire from the tiny Ile de la Cite (where the Notre-Dame cathedral is situated) to the city we know today, within the confines of the Periphery.

Kirkland commences in 1749 in Versailles, the ‘jewel in the crown of the Kingdom of France’ 10 miles southwest of Paris. He shifts to the Pereire brothers in 1837 to discuss the rail system. Paris has major problems with sewerage, drinking water, lighting, crime, public transport, unpaved streets, and a growing population.

But it is from 1848 where the real story begins. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, 40 years of age, enters Paris after 33 years in exile with a vision – to become a politician with the power to rebuild Paris into a modern city. He has a plan: a coloured map he created to visualize his dreams. In the next four years implementation is frustratingly slow.

The turning point is 1853. Napoleon becomes emperor and he appoints the ‘true Parisian’ Georges-Eugene Haussmann to be the Prefect of the Seine – the town planner.

The first task is to modernize Paris in readiness for the 1855 Paris Universal Exposition, similar to the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London. The grands travaux – grand works commence with the Right Bank and the construction of the Les Halles, the continuation of the rue de Rivoli, and an east-west route through Paris, linking grand wide boulevards to the railways. Kirkland’s description of Queen Victoria’s successful visit to the Paris Universal Exposition from 18-27 August, 1855, is delightful – marking it as a critical moment in the history of Paris for it ‘asserted that the city was now a center of modernity and sophistication. But it was also the start of mass tourism. The city registered half a million stays, with 128,000 foreigners, and more than 4 million travelers on Paris trains that year.

The Left Bank was next – with the construction of a north-south link – the boulevard Saint-Michel, as well as further work on the Right Bank and central Paris, such as the construction of the Acadamie Imperiale de Musique (the Opera de Paris – or Opera Garnier, after its designer Charles Garnier) and the restoration of the Notre-Dame cathedral.

In 22 years the pair – Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann – established 85 miles of new paved roads and elevated sidewalks, more than 17,000 gas street lamps, the planting of 46,000 trees on the avenues, and the construction of 100,000 new apartment buildings (known as the Haussmann style although Haussman ‘played no part in its conception’ – strong horizontal lines of the balconies and cornices). Other housing constructions occurred too, and these were greatly regulated to ensure ‘harmony’ with the rest of the street. However 27,000 buildings were knocked down and 117,553 families representing 350,000 people were relocated. The cost of expropriation was high.

Villages such as Montmarte (population 33,000) become subsumed into Paris through annexation laws, immediately increasing the population of the city to 1.5 million.

Then Haussmann wanted to take part of the Jardin du Luxembourg. In March 1866 a petition of 12,000 residents opposed the move, shouting ‘Sack Haussmann.’ This was the beginning of the fall. ‘Haussmann was controversial and, at times, a political liability to the emperor, but he was diabolically effective … a remarkable administrator.’ Kirkland adds, ‘Haussman has everything in large: qualities as well as faults.’ He was also fiscally irreprehensible. His budget blew out from 180 million francs to 410 million. The total cost of the reconstruction in 22 years was 2.5 billion francs, with roadworks alone accounting for half the amount.

Haussman was sacked in 1870. Napoleon III died in 1873. It was the end of an era. That era is remembered as the Haussmann era, but in reality it was the emperor’s vision and Paris should be remembered as ‘the Paris of Napoleon III’. Haussmann was the executor. Haussmann was the right man at the right time.

The reconstruction of Paris was not a democratic, consensual project. Its implementation was despotic, socially regressive, financially irresponsible, and controversial. But it was also swift, radical, amazingly bold, audacious, immense, sophisticated, elegant, harmonized in its uniformity and order, and visionary. Paris of the Second Empire has also proved to be long lasting and long loved.

Note: A good accompaniment to this book is Andew Hussey’s Paris: The Secret History (2008), an account of 16th century Parisian streets.