Haussman's Paris

From Howard Saalman, Haussmann: Paris Transformed

“The new streets had a twofold character: They existed for their own sakes, as places to live and shop according to new standards of upper middle class affluence, as a kind of stage for elegant living, promenading, and socializing in outdoor cafes and restaurants, and also connecting corridors between what an up-to-date mid-nineteenth century man like Napoleon III considered key points of the city.” (p. 14)

The new city: economic liberalism plus political conservatism. “As much as possible for the opeople, as little as possible by the people.” (p. 16)

“the formal concept of linking major architectural units by grand avenues, of superimposing a simplex of monumental proportions over a complex of smaller units” (p. 16)

“transformation of small-scale complexity into monumental simplicity” (p. 17)

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