The Topographical Evolution of the City of Paris 
Verniquet indicating many proposed im¬ 
provements. This map, called the “ Plan 
des Artistes ,” was useful to Haussmann in 
his reconstructions. 
THE FIRST EMPIRE 
The Paris of Napoleon (Emperor 1804— 
1814) was not a large city according to mod¬ 
ern standards. Its population was about 
600,000 in 1804. It was a poor city, also, 
thanks to the Terror and wars almost contin¬ 
uous. However, during the Consulate and 
Empire, large strides were made in civic im¬ 
provement. In 1 800 the city government was 
reorganized on nearly its present basis. In 
1807 the first loi d'alignement was enacted, 
which gave to all the old streets a stated width 
to which the designers of future constructions 
were obliged to conform. The old buildings 
on the bridges were removed ; sidewalks were 
introduced in many im¬ 
portant streets, where 
hitherto vehicles and foot- 
passengers had proceeded 
together; many streets 
were numbered; three 
thousand meters of new 
quays were built, and four 
bridges, of which two were 
of iron, the Pont des Arts 
and the Pont d’Austerlitz. 
In the way of pure to¬ 
pography the most impor¬ 
tant work of Napoleon’s 
time was the commence¬ 
ment of the Rue de Ri- 
voli. In our fourth article 
we have seen that the ex¬ 
tremes of a great thor¬ 
oughfare leading through 
Paris east and west were 
established at the Place du 
Prone and the Place de 
l’Etoile. Connection 
through the city was ob¬ 
structed by the Louvre 
and Tuileries. It was 
necessary to pass these 
monumental masses on 
their northern side. For 
this purpose property was 
taken on the boundary of 
the Tuileries garden and 
the new street was built 
as far, probably, as the Place des Pyra- 
mides in Napoleon’s time. In order to se¬ 
cure a monumental front on the garden a 
fixed design was made, to which proprietors 
were obliged to conform, a method already 
adopted in the Place des Vosges and the 
Place Vendome. As a part of the scheme 
for the Rue de Rivoli it was decided to 
connect the Louvre and Tuileries on the 
north. A vast number of amusing projets 
were made for this work and a considerable 
mass of buildings was constructed by Per- 
cier and Fontaine westward from the Pavilion 
de Marsan to the site of the present Pavilion 
de Rohan. The Place du Caroussel was 
partially cleared, and the Arc du Carrousel 
was built as a monumental entrance to the 
Emperor’s palace, the Tuileries. 
d'he Colonne Vendome, which Napoleon 
erected in 1810, made a 
fine center for the place of 
that name. To give it 
vista the Rue de la Paix 
was laid out from the Place 
Vendome to the Boule¬ 
vard des Capucines. The 
Rue de la Paix is the key 
to the entire situation 
which Haussmann elabo¬ 
rated so magnificently 
about the Place de l’Opera. 
He built the Rue du 
Ouatre-Septembre to bal¬ 
ance the Rue de la Paix 
and the Avenue de 1 ’Op¬ 
era, bisecting the angle be¬ 
tween them. The Opera 
itself furnishes the monu¬ 
mental raison d'etre. 
It was natural that Na¬ 
poleon’s attention should 
be arrested by the fine site 
on the hill at Passy in the 
axis of the Champ de Mars 
and the Ecole Militaire. 
In 1 813 preparations were 
made for the construction 
of a fortress-palace at this 
point which was to be 
called, in honor of the 
Emperor’s son, the Palais 
du Roi de Rome. The 
Pont d’Jena was built 
