How 19th Century Haussmann Buildings Actually Work

In 1853 Emperor Napoleon III instructed Baron Haussmann to redesign Paris to improve the health and appearance of the city. This extensive project completely changed the capital by creating wide avenues lined with uniform stone structures known today as Haussmann buildings. While most people recognize these exterior stone facades and the interior wood floors, the buildings were actually designed with strict mechanical rules. The layout managed everything from temperature control and plumbing to the physical separation of social classes. Understanding these residences requires looking at the mass production of their decorations, the municipal laws governing their windows, and the specific ways they handled light and ventilation.

As the video explains, during Baron Haussmann’s massive urban renewal project under Napoleon III (roughly between 1853 and 1870), approximately 20,000 older medieval buildings were demolished to make way for the new avenues, and around 40,000 new Haussmannian buildings were constructed in their place.

Because of this staggering 20-year construction boom, Haussmann-style buildings still make up roughly 60% of all the real estate in Paris today. What remains of old, pre-Haussmann Paris is either in Le Marais or in Faubourg Saint-Germain.

Window Dressing Features

The standard decorative elements of a Haussmann apartment are known locally as the PMC (parquet, moulures, and cheminées) meaning hardwood floors, moldings, and fireplaces. The parquet is typically solid oak laid in a herringbone or Hungarian point pattern. The plaster moldings decorate the ceiling corners, walls, and doors. The complexity of these moldings indicated the social status of the floor. The second floor, known as the noble floor (remember there were no elevators, and most of the time there still aren’t any), features the highest ceilings and the most elaborate plasterwork. As you move to the higher floors, the ceiling height decreases and the plaster decorations become simpler.

Reality of Kitchens and Bathrooms

Original Haussmann apartments did not have modern bathrooms. The floor plans from the 1850s included a small room called a cabinet de toilette near the bedroom. This space contained a washbasin and enough room for a portable metal tub. Servants brought hot water from the kitchen to fill the tub. The kitchen itself was located at the far end of the apartment. Architects placed it there to keep cooking smells and the risk of fire away from the main reception rooms. The kitchen had its own separate entrance connected to a different staircase.

Mass Produced Marble Fireplaces

Most Haussmann apartments feature identical marble fireplaces because they were early examples of mass production. The most common design is the Pompadour style, featuring curved edges and a shell motif in the center. During the industrial revolution, factories began using steam powered saws to cut marble slabs quickly and uniformly. Building developers ordered these fireplaces from catalogs in large quantities. They were shipped in crates and assembled on site. This allowed builders to install luxury items without hiring individual stone carvers for each apartment.

Strict Building Standards for Wood Windows

The windows in these buildings use a specific joinery technique called mouton et gueule de loup, which translates to sheep and wolf mouth. One side of the window frame is rounded, and the other side is concave. When closed, the two pieces interlock to block drafts. A vertical metal rod called a cremone bolt locks the window at the top and bottom. Today, the Paris local urban plan strictly regulates these windows. Property owners who want to replace their windows are forbidden from using plastic or aluminum materials on protected facades. They must install custom wood frames that replicate the exact dimensions and profiles of the original 19th century designs.

Bringing Light into Every Room

Haussmann buildings are deep, and architects had to find a way to ventilate the interior rooms. They solved this by using a system of two different courtyards. The main courtyard provides light to the primary living spaces like the dining room and the salon. To bring air and light to the utility rooms, architects built a courette. This is a narrow vertical light shaft hidden inside the building structure. The kitchen, the water closet, and the cabinet de toilette all have windows that open into this interior shaft. The walls of the courette are usually made of plain brick, in contrast to the dressed stone on the street facade.

Maid Rooms and the Second Staircase

The social hierarchy of the building was strictly vertical. The wealthiest residents lived on the second floor, while the poorest lived at the very top. The sixth floor sits directly under the zinc roof and contains tiny rooms known as chambres de service (today 85% are uninhabited). These spaces measure around nine square meters. The servants who lived there did not use the main staircase. The building has a second set of stairs located at the back of the property. This service staircase is narrow, steep, and made of plain wood. It connects the sixth floor directly to the back doors of the kitchens, allowing the staff to move through the building without entering the public areas.

Wall Nook as a Refrigerator

Before electric refrigeration existed, these buildings used the exterior architecture to keep food cold. Beneath the kitchen window, there is a built in storage space called a garde manger. The masonry wall is thinner in this specific spot, and a metal grate pierces the stone facade to let in outside air. This creates a naturally ventilated cold box. Residents used it to store perishable items like butter, cheese, and meat during the colder months. You can still identify the kitchens from the street today by looking for these small rectangular grates under the windows.

Buying and Remodeling Today

Buyers purchasing a Haussmann apartment today face significant renovation challenges because the original infrastructure is entirely obsolete. The electrical wiring is often outdated (no ground wire) and requires completely opening the plaster walls and removing the original moldings to install modern cables. Plumbing is another major issue because the original pipes are often made of lead and need full replacement to meet current health standards. Furthermore, old paint layers frequently contain lead, and the floor adhesives sometimes contain asbestos. Removing these materials requires expensive specialized hazard teams. Finally, owners must navigate strict city preservation rules when replacing the windows, trying to balance the legal requirement for historical accuracy with the modern need for double glazing to block out city noise.

Conclusion

The Haussmann residential style was a highly organized system designed to standardize urban living through precise engineering and spatial hierarchy. Its strict rules governed aesthetics, plumbing, and social separation.

Today, this exact rigidity is creating a new challenge for the city of Paris. The European Union and the French government are implementing strict energy efficiency mandates to combat climate change, requiring buildings to improve their insulation and reduce carbon emissions.

Despite these modern environmental challenges, history often shows that centrally planned cities do not work. Modern examples like Brasilia are frequently viewed as dystopian environments that no one wants to inhabit. Paris proves to be a rare exception. Even though the Empire did not survive, its rigid architectural work has enriched the city in innumerable ways.