During the Second French Empire, the reign of Emperor Napoleon III (1852–1870), Paris was the largest city in continental Europe and a leading center of finance, commerce, fashion, and the arts. The population of the city grew dramatically, from about one million to two million persons, partly because the city was greatly enlarged, to its present boundaries, through the annexation of eleven surrounding communes and the subsequent creation of eight new arrondissements.
In 1853, Napoleon III and his prefect of Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, began a massive public works project, constructing new boulevards and parks, theaters, markets and monuments, a project that Napoleon III supported for seventeen years until his downfall in 1870, and which was continued afterward under the Third Republic. The street plan and architectural style of Napoleon III and Haussmann are still largely preserved and manifestly evident in the center of Paris.
The Paris of Napoleon III
Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, was born in Paris, but spent very little of his life there until he assumed the presidency of the French Second Republic in 1848. Earlier, he had lived most of his life in exile in Switzerland, Italy, the United States, and England. At the time of his election as the French president, he had to ask Victor Hugo where the Place des Vosges was located. He was greatly influenced by London, where he had spent years in exile; he admired its squares, wide streets, sidewalks, and especially Hyde Park with its lake and winding paths, which he later copied in the Bois de Boulogne and other Paris parks.
In 1852, Paris had many beautiful buildings; but, according to many visitors, it was not a beautiful city. The most significant civic structures, such as the Hôtel de Ville and the Cathedral of Notre Dame, were surrounded and partially hidden by slums. Napoleon wanted to make them visible and accessible.De Moncan, Patrice, Le Paris d'Haussmann, p. 33. Napoleon III was fond of quoting the utopian philosopher Charles Fourier: "A century which does not know how to provide luxurious buildings can make no progress in the framework of social well-being... A barbarian city is one composed of buildings thrown together by hazard, without any evident plan, and grouped in confusion between twisting, narrow, badly-made and unhealthy streets." In 1850, he declared: "Let us make every effort to embellish this great city. Let us open new streets, make healthy the crowded arrondissements which are lacking air and daylight, and let the healthy sunlight penetrate every corner within our walls."De Moncan, Patrice, Le Paris d'Haussmann, p. 28.
When Napoleon III staged a coup d'état to become Emperor in December 1852, he began to transform Paris into a more open, healthier, and more beautiful city. He immediately attacked the major flaws of the city: overcrowded and unhealthy slums, particularly on the Ile de la Cité; the shortage of drinking water; sewers that emptied directly into the Seine; the absence of parks and green spaces, especially in the outer parts of the city; congestion in the narrow streets; and the need for easier travel between the new train stations.
Haussmann's renovation of Paris
In 1853, Napoleon III assigned his new prefect of the Seine department, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, the task of bringing more water, air, and light into the city center, widening the streets to make traffic circulation easier, and making it the most beautiful city in Europe.
Haussmann worked on his vast projects for seventeen years, employing tens of thousands of workers. He rebuilt the sewers of Paris so they no longer emptied into the Seine and built a new aqueduct and reservoir to bring in more fresh water. He demolished most of the old medieval buildings on the Île de la Cité and replaced them with a new hospital and government buildings.
In the city center, he conceived four avenues arranged as a huge cross: a north–south axis connecting the Gare de Paris-Est in the north with the Paris Observatory in the south, and an east–west axis from the Place de la Concorde along the Rue de Rivoli to the Rue Saint-Antoine. He built new, wide avenues, including the Boulevard Saint-Germain, the Avenue de l'Opéra, Avenue Foch (originally Avenue de l'impératrice), Avenue Voltaire, the Boulevard de Sébastopol and Avenue Haussmann. He planted more than one hundred thousand trees along the new avenues. Where they intersected, he built new squares, fountains, and parks, to give a more harmonious appearance to the city. He imposed strict architectural standards for the buildings along the new boulevards: they all had to be the same height, follow a similar design, and be faced with the same cream-hued stone. This gave the Paris boulevards the distinctive appearance they retain to the present day.Maneglier, Herve, Paris Imperial- La vie quotidienne sous le Second Empire, (1992), Armand Colin, ()
For the recreation and relaxation of all classes of Parisians, Napoleon III created four new parks at the cardinal points of the compass: the Bois de Boulogne to the west, the Bois de Vincennes to the east, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont to the north, and Parc Montsouris to the south.De Moncan, Patrice, Les Jardins du Baron Haussmann, Les Editions du Mecene, ()
To better connect his capital with the rest of France, and to serve as the grand gateways to the city, Napoleon III built two new train stations, the Gare du Nord and the Gare d'Austerlitz, and rebuilt the Gare de Paris-Est and the Gare de Lyon. To revitalize the cultural life of the city, he demolished the old theater district, the "Boulevard du Crime", replaced it with five new theaters, and commissioned a new opera house, the Palais Garnier, as the new home of the Paris Opera, and the centerpiece of his downtown reconstruction. He also completed the Louvre, left unfinished since the French Revolution, built a new central market of gigantic glass and iron pavilions at Les Halles, and constructed new markets in each of the arrondissements.Maneglier, Herve, Paris Imperial- La vie quotidienne sous le Second Empire, (1992), Armand Colin, ()
Paris expands – the annexation of 1860
In 1859, Napoleon III issued a decree annexing the suburban communes around Paris: La Villette, Belleville, Montmartre, Vaugirard, Grenelle, Auteuil, Passy, Batignolles, La Chapelle, Charonne, Bercy, and parts of Neuilly, Clichy, Saint-Ouen, Aubervilliers, Pantin, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Saint-Mandé, Bagnolet, Ivry-sur-Seine, Gentilly, Montrouge, Vanves, and Issy-les-Molineaux. All of them became part of the city of Paris in January 1860. Their residents were not consulted and were not entirely pleased, since it meant having to pay higher taxes; but there was no legal recourse available to them. The area of the city expanded to its present boundaries and jumped in population from 1,200,000 to 1,600,000. The annexed areas were organized into eight new arrondissements; Haussmann enlarged his plans for Paris to include new city halls, parks and boulevards to connect the new arrondissements to the center of the city.Sarmant, Thierry, (2012), Histoire de Paris- Politique, Urbanisme, civilization, (), p. 186
The population of Paris during the Second Empire The population of Paris was recorded as 949,000 in 1851. It grew to 1,130,500 by 1856 and was just short of two million by the end of Second Empire, including the 400,000 residents of the suburbs annexed to Paris in 1860.de Moncan, Patrice, Le Paris d'Haussmann, p. 169 According to a census made by the city of Paris in 1865, Parisians lived in 637,369 apartments or residences. Forty-two percent of the city population, or 780,000 Parisians, were classified as indigent, and thus too poor to be taxed. Another 330,000 Parisians, who occupied 17 percent of the housing of the city, were classified as lower middle class, defined as individuals who paid rents of less than 250 francs. 32 percent of the lodgings in Paris were occupied by the upper-middle class, defined as individuals who paid rents of between 250 and 1500 francs. Three percent of Parisians, or fifty thousand people, were classified as wealthy individuals who paid more than 1500 francs for rent.de Moncan, Patrice, Le Paris d'Haussmann
Artisans and workers
In the early part of the 19th century, the majority of Parisians were employed in commerce and small shops; but by the mid-19th century, conditions had changed. In 1864, 900,000 of the 1,700,000 inhabitants of Paris were employed in workshops and industry. These workers were typically employed in manufacturing, usually for the luxury market and on a small scale. The average atelier, or workshop, employed only one or two workers.Maneglier, Hervé, Paris Impérial, p. 43. Similar types of manufacturing tended to be located in particular areas of the city. Furniture-makers and craftsmen who worked with bronze were located in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine; makers of tassels were found in the Faubourg Saint-Denis; shops that specialized in fabric trimming and fringes (passementerie) were found (and are still found) in the Temple area. Often the workshops were found in old houses on side streets. Thousands of crafts worked at home, making everything from watch chains to shoes and clothing. A large garment business could employ four thousand men and women, most working at home. In the Temple area, twenty-five thousand workers worked for five thousand employers.Maneglier, Hervé, Paris Impérial, p. 44-45
The market for Parisian products changed during the Second Empire. Previously, the clientele for luxury goods had been very small, mostly restricted to the nobility; and to meet their needs a small number of craftsmen had worked slowly and to very high standards. During the Second Empire, with the growth of the number of wealthy and upper middle class clients, lower-paid specialist craftsmen began to make products in greater quantity and more quickly, but of poorer quality than before. Craftsmen with nineteen different specialties were employed to make high-quality Moroccan leather goods. To make fine dolls, separate craftsmen and women, working separately and usually at home, made the body, the head, the arms, the teeth, the eyes, the hair, the lingerie, the dresses, the gloves, the shoes, and the hats.Maneglier, Hervé, Paris Impérial, p. 44
Between 1830 and 1850, more heavy industry began to locate in Paris. One tenth of all the steam engines in France were made in the capital. These industrial enterprises were usually located in the outer parts of the city, where there was land and access to the rivers or canals needed to move heavy goods. The metallurgy industry established itself along the Seine in the eastern part of the city. The chemical industry was located near La Villette, in the outer part of the city, or at Grenelle. Factories were established to make matches, candles, rubber, ink, gelatine, glue, and various acids. A thousand workers were employed by the Gouin factory in Batignolles to make steam engines. Fifteen hundred were employed by the Cail factories in Grenelle and Chaillot to make rails and ironwork for bridges. At Levallois-Perret, a young engineer, Gustave Eiffel, started an enterprise to make the frames of iron buildings. The eastern part of the city was subjected to noise, smoke, and the smells of industry. Wealthier Parisians moved to the west end of the city, which was quieter and where the prevailing winds kept out the smoke from the east. When the wealthy and middle-class people deserted the eastern areas, most of the small shops also closed and relocated elsewhere, leaving the outer suburbs of eastern Paris with only factories, and housing occupied by the poor.Maneglier, Hervé, Paris Impérial, p. 44-45
Wages and working hours