The noted “monotony of a Haussmannian street” is illustrated here in this famous painting by Gustave Caillebotte. Why are the streets of Paris created under Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s direction considered monotonous?

In 1853, during the period known as the Second Empire, Napoleon III gave him the job of modernizing Paris. Haussmann carved out wide boulevards in the heart of the city, destroying thousands of old buildings to do so. And he regulated the height and design of building facades on the new streets, thereby creating uniformity (read “monotony”) along many of the city’s major arteries.

All true. But it’s less than half the story.

Haussmann was concerned about public health (he also improved the water and sewer systems). Paris had suffered several outbreaks of cholera, including one in 1849, which claimed the life of Madame Récamier.

Narrow streets were considered unhealthy. Sunlight and air were health-giving. So Haussmann mandated wide streets and building heights that ensured the streets would get lots of sunlight. Moreover, the interiors of the new buildings allowed for larger rooms, better air circulation, and more light than those in the buildings they replaced.

But public health, too, is only a fraction of the story. During the Second Empire, the population of Paris doubled. Industrialization and changes in agriculture meant that people moved from the countryside to the city in huge numbers. So housing, lots of it, was needed. Big apartment buildings were a relatively new invention, and Haussmann and his architectes-voyers (city architects working who issued building permits) were writing new rules for a new kind of housing.

For example, it is often said that the demolition of old neighbourhoods in the centre of Paris was intended to break up hotbeds of dissent and create big boulevards that would allow for the deployment of military force during uprisings. That reason was only one among many, and it was nowhere near the top of the list.

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