In this class, we study the urban transformation of Paris under Haussmann, and the engineering prowess of Gustave Eiffel.

1. Paris, Capital of the
19th Century
ARCH 417
CLASS 04

4. agenda 9.2.15
• characteristic modern split between engineering and
architecture
• renovation of medieval Paris during Second Empire
• characteristic new materials in the 19th century
• iron
• plate glass
• later, steel [Bessemer process]
• characteristic new types in the 19th century
• arcades-predecessors of department stores and shopping
malls
• railway stations

5. Schematic map of Paris, showing the division into arrondissements and two large park

6. Map of Paris, showing the Île de la Cité in the middle of the Seine. On this map the Le
appears as a small semicircle to the right.

7. Plan of the Île de la Cité, showing the close-grained urban plots characteristic of mediev

8. Aerial view of Paris, showing the radial plan and wide avenues imposed by Haussmani

9. Charles Marville,
Passage du Dragon,
Paris, 1858
In this photo, many
characteristics of medieval
Paris are visible.

10. "How ugly Paris seems after a year's
absence. How one chokes in these dark,
narrow and dank corridors that we like to
call the streets of Paris! One would think
that one was in a subterranean city, that's
how heavy is the atmosphere , how
profound is the darkness!"
—Vicomte de Launay,
1838, (as quoted in Rice, p
9)

11. "Most Parisians during [the first half of the
nineteenth century] perceived [the streets]
as dirty, crowded, and unhealthy . . .
Covered with mud and makeshift
shanties, damp and fetid, filled with the
signs of poverty as well as the signs of
garbage and waste left there by the
inadequate and faulty sewer system . . ."
—Rice, Parisian Views, p
9.

12. The Centrality of Paris
• The Revolution had confirmed
the central political role of Paris
• Napoleon (Empire) reinforced
this role
• subsequent revolts had
centered in the city
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading
the People, oil on canvas, 2.6 x
3.25m, 1830 (Musée du Louvre,
Paris)

13. • High population density
and poor sanitation were a
lethal combination.
• Severe cholera epidemics
in 1832 and 1853
decimated the population.

14. Poverty, starvation,
disease, mortality and
ferocious exploitation
were rampant in some
quarters of Paris.
Title page of Les
Misérables from original
printing, 1862.

15. The 1848 revolution had
shown the need for better
control of the lower class
neighborhoods of Paris.
The beautification of Paris
was thus an
"embellissement
strategique" as Walter
Benjamin put it.

16. transformation
Emperor Napoleon III
selected Eugène-
Georges Haussmann
(later given the
honorific title of
"Baron") as his Chief of
Works.

17. Haussmann had enormous
power to alter the French capital
between his appointment in
1858 and his firing in 1870.

20. To do list
• Eugène-Georges Haussmann undertook what many consider
the first modern urban works project, demolishing many existing
neighborhoods to make way for grand boulevards and parks.
• He installed a sewer system.
• Gas lighting was placed in major public places.
• He hired photographers to document the medieval streets he
was plowing under.

21. Paris parks
• Bois de Boulogne
• Bois de Vincennes

22. sewers
Haussmann also
supervised the
building of several
hundreds of miles of
sewers and the
improvement of the
city water system.

23. Improving streets and
sidewalks
He oversaw the
installation of paved
roads and
sidewalks.

24. Newspaper illustration showing nighttime construction on the Rue de Rivoli.

25. Unidentified photographer
[Barricade on Rue de la Roquette, Paris]
18 March 1871, Cabinet card

26. Unidentified photographer
[Barricades during the Paris Commune]
1871 © Det Kongelige Bibliotek

30. Maximilien LUCE, A Street in Paris, May 1871, 1903-6, Musée d’Orsay
oil on canvas, w2250 x h1510 cm, © RMN (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

32. Gustave CAILLEBOTTE, Boulevard Haussmann in the Snow, 1881

33. Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877, Art Institute of Ch

34. Camille PISSARRO, Boulevard Montmartre, 1897, 29.1 × 36.5 in

35. Gustave CAILLEBOTTE, Traffic Island in the Boulevard Haussmann, 1880, 31 7/8 x 39

37. Charles Garnier, Paris Opera, built from 1860 to 1875

38. Camille Pissarro, Avenue de L’Opera, 1898

39. proposed plan for construction of the Avenue de L'Opera, showing the dense blocks
to be demolished.

40. Marville, L’Avenue de l’Opera

41. razing the Butte des Moulins during
construction of the Paris Opera house

42. grand cultural institutions,
then and now

43. 19TH CENTURY ENGINEERING
• Iron and steel had their beginnings in the construction of
greenhouses to protect exotic plants from Britain's
colonies.
• Colonial specimens brought back to Britain required
structures that could recreate the humid heat of their
native environments.

44. Joseph Paxton, The Great Conservatory (The Great Stove), at Chatsworth, 1840

45. Great Conservatory (1840)
Huge building that took four years to construct.
28,000 square feet of enclosed space.
Largest glass building in England before Paxton’s Crystal
Palace in London, in 1851.

46. interior of The Great Stove at Chatsworth

47. climate control
Eight underground boilers fuelled by coal which arrived by
underground rail wagons.
Boilers fed a 7 miles of 6-inch hot water pipes.
The boiler fumes escaped through flues laid along the
ground to a chimney up in Stand Wood, well out of sight of
the garden.

48. First World War [1914-18]
• Coal shortages meant conservatories across the UK went
unheated and many plants died.
• Because of the expense of restoring the now semi-derelict
building and bearing in mind the huge cost of maintaining
and heating it, the Great Conservatory was demolished in
1920.

49. Joseph Paxton (1801 – 1865)
• Head gardener for the 6th Duke of Devonshire at
Chatsworth House
• By 1850 he had become a preeminent figure in British
horticulture and did freelance park designs that were
influential.
• At Chatsworth, Paxton had the opportunity to build many
green houses
• developed techniques for modular construction,
• using combinations of standard-sized sheets of glass,
laminated wood, and prefabricated cast iron.

50. Crystal Palace (1851)
March 1850 the organizing committee invited submissions:
• temporary,
• as cheap as possible, and
• economical to build within the short time remaining before
the Exhibition opening, which had already been scheduled
for 1 May 1851.

51. Paxton's initial design
for the project, sketched
on a piece of blotting
paper

52. Crystal Palace (1851)
• submission was budgeted at a remarkably low £85,800 -
by comparison, 28% of the estimated cost of a competing
design,
• this was only about 2-1/2 times more than the Great Stove
at Chatsworth, but would cover roughly twenty-five times
the ground area at 77,000 square feet
• The bid of Fox, Henderson and Co was accepted. Fewer
than eight months to finalize plans, manufacture the parts
and erect the building in time for 1 May 1851. He was
even able to alter the design shortly before building
began, adding a high, barrel-vaulted transept across the
centre of the building, at 90 degrees to the main gallery.

55. interior views, Crystal Palace, 1851

57. how? build modular
• design shape and size based on the size of glass panes
made by Chance Brothers of Birmingham
• 10 inches wide by 49 inches long—largest available at the
time
• building was scaled to those dimensions; almost the whole
outer surface was glazed using millions of identical panes
(time and cost reduction)

58. Compare Frank Gehry's Fondation
Louis Vuitton (2014), which
involved 3,600 glass panels
custom molded by industrial robots
working from a 3-D model hosted
on the web.

60. Gustave Eiffel (1832 – 1923)
• Born in Dijon, France in 1832.
• Interested in construction at an early age, he attended the
École Polytechnique and later the École Centrale des Arts
et Manufactures (College of Art and Manufacturing) in
Paris, graduating in 1855.
• After graduation, Eiffel specialized in metal construction,
most notably bridges.

61. Eiffel Tower (1889)
• Begun in 1887 for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris.
• 12,000 different components and 2,500,000 rivets, all
designed with wind pressure in mind. This project sparked
Eiffel's interest in aerodynamics. He built a lab at its based
and used the structure for several experiments and built
the first aerodynamic laboratory at its base.
• Later he built a new lab in a different location, which
included the first wind tunnel ever built. He went on to
write several books on aerodynamics, most notably
Resistance of the Air and Aviation, which the Wright
Brothers read.
• Detailed study of meteorology at end of his life.

62. Eiffel Tower, Paris (1889)
1010 ft, tallest structure
in the world at the time
Remains the largest
iron construction in the
world
material economy

63. Statue of Liberty, New York
IN 1879 Statue of Liberty's
initial internal engineer,
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc,
unexpectedly died. Eiffel
was hired to replace him.
Eiffel created a new
support system for the
statue that would rely on a
skeletal structure instead
of weight to support the
copper skin.
He and his team built the
statue from the ground up
and then dismantled it for
its journey to New York