Baron Haussmann

Georges Eugène Haussmann (1809-1891), became a Baron when elected senator in 1857, is the well known civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris. Prefect of the Seine département, he designed and directed the transformation of Paris between 1853 and 1870. He created a new city plan with large avenues bordered by more spacious and luxurious investment property apartment buildings.
Haussmann’s goal was to bring safer and more sanitary living conditions to Paris creating not only large avenues but parks and gardens and a whole new sewage system. Although these transformations destroyed large parts of Medieval Paris, the city gained in coherence, majesty and open space.