Colin Jones, Paris: A History

Haussmannism and  the City  of Modernity
1851-89 , pp. 310-311

Railways and Straight Lines

As well as targeting  the central  zones of the city, Haussmann sketched out developments through to  the  city  limits  and,  in  particular, to the mainline railway stations. He  was  not  alone in regarding the  latter as  new  gateways to the city, which  involved a rethinking of urban space. His aim  was consequentially to establish a framework for  circulation which  dovetailed with  the new  Paris  street-plan and  also  with  the  national road  and rail systems. Both were  anyway highly  (to  be frank: overly)  Parisocentric in orientarion.  Each terminus received  duly  monumental treatment, often  using  modern materials of glass and  iron. The  stations were increased in size so as to keep up with expanding passenger numbers, and they were often  massively  over-decorated too--like the  Gare du  Nord, rebuilt in the early   1860s by Jean-Jacques Hittorff, one of the regime's many  talented architects. In addition they were provided  with  capacious approach roads to make  them  stand out.  Drawing a straight line along the Boulevards de Strasbourg and  Sebastopol towards the Garc  de !'Est  necessitated the  mutilation of the  medieval churches of Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles and  of Saint-Laurent, the latter among the  most  ancient  ecclesiastical  sites   in  the   city.   For   Haussmann,  straight  lines   and   urban functions prevailed over  the claims of history. On  the Left  Bank  the  Rue de Rennes gave  the  Gare Montparnasse a similarly impressive vista. from  the Boulevard Saint-Germain (though  plans  to extend the street through to  the river  Seine came  to nothing).

The wish to combine optimal traffic flow with visual perspective on major monuments, evidence in the radial street networks around the railway termini, was a more general feature of Haussmann's work. He was said to have nurtured a secret wish to knock down the church of Saint-German-l'Auxerrois so as to allow an uniterrupted vista between the Hotêl de Ville and the east front of the Louvre, but, he realized that, as a Protestant, his authorization of the demolition of the church whose bell had in 1572 tolled the opening of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day would cause a major interdenominational incident. . . .

The desire to have every boulevard focusing on a monument because a little overdone and fetishistic. The architect Bailly, for example, was obliged to place the dome of the Trubual de Commerce on the Ile de la Cité askew of the structure so that it could open up a perfect sightline down the Boulevard Sébastopol.

 

The Boulevard de Sébastopol During the 2nd Empire // The Boulevard de Sébastopol in the 21st Century