Haussmann, Georges Eugène, Baron |
| ARCHITECT, CIVIC PLANNER (FRANCE) |
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BORN 27 Mar 1809, Paris: rue Faubourg le Roule - DIED 11 Jan 1891, Paris GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 4, 1ere ligne, AB, 16) |
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Georges Hausmann came from a Protestant family of textile merchants
from Alsace. He studied law and at the same time he took classes
at the Conservatory in Paris. He started his professional career
as sous-préfet of Nérac and his career progressed rapidly until
Persigny appointed him prefect of the Seine département on June
24th,1853. He held this post until 1870. In that year he was
dismissed by the liberal government under Émile Ollivier. Hausmann
had married Octavie de Laharpe. His daughter Fanny Valentine
(b.1843) would become the mistress of Napoleon III and bore
the emperor a son in 1865. In 1852 Napoleon III commissioned him with the modernization of Paris. The emperor wanted Paris to be safer, sanitary and hospitable. Broader streets should prevent rebels to build barricades and traffic should flow easier. Haussmann created the Bois the Boulogne and removed the gardens of Luxembourg Palace to make room for new streets, like the Boulevard de Sebastopol. New bridges were built and a new water supply system was put in place. A new opera house and other public buildings were realized and the central market place Les Halles was constructed. His plan to remove all cemetery's in Paris and replace them with a huge area outside the city was never realized. The small house where he was born was demolished in favour of the Boulevard Haussmann. In 1857 Hausmann became a senator and in 1867. In 1862 he received the grand cross of the Légio d'honneur and in 1867 he entered the Academy of Fine Arts. After 1870 Haussmann lived for several years at Cestas near Bordeaux, but in 1877 he returned to Paris as a Bonapartist memeber of the National Assembly for Corsica (1877-1881). During the last years of his life he wrote his memoirs. Related persons worked for Napoleon III Bonaparte, Empereur des Français Sources Georges Haussmann Culbertson, Judi & Tom Randall, Permanent Parisians, Robson Books, London, 1991 Notice - Georges Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891) Wikipedia (English) |
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