House and Garden 
The Western Facade Due’s PALAIS DE JUSTICE From the Re-vue Gcn'crale 
Pr'efet de la Seine in 1853 and held that 
official position until 1870. He was not an 
architect; he was not even an engineer; he 
was a lawyer whose entire life had been 
spent in the civil service as incumbent of 
various prefectures and sousprefectures. He 
was, however, a man 
of sensibility, and ar¬ 
tistic by temperament. 
He appreciated fully 
the charms of the old 
city which he was 
torced, by mere acci¬ 
dent, so ruthlessly to 
rehabilitate. He 
saved when he could. 
Important monu¬ 
ments were never sac¬ 
rificed if it was pos¬ 
sible to protect them. 
H is life, and especi¬ 
ally his extreme old 
age, were embittered 
by the thoughtless 
condemnation of peo¬ 
ple who were intelli¬ 
gent enough, but too 
indolent to consider 
the unpleasant alternatives which he un¬ 
derstood perfectly. 
H aussmann knew the old Paris maps well. 
He especially appreciated the superb schemes 
of the court of Louis XIV. and carried them 
all to completion in a spirit entirely in accord 
with the wishes of the 
designers. The Place 
de l’Etoile is prob¬ 
ably very much the 
sort of thing which 
Le Notre and his fol¬ 
lowers had in mind. 
In the additions to 
the plan which were 
original with Hauss- 
mann he was obliged 
to consider funda¬ 
mental necessities— 
strategic conditions, 
enlarged population, 
modern methods of 
transportation, sew¬ 
ers, water, light, 
finance ; these things 
controlled the will of 
the master to whom 
Plan from Alphand he was always loyal. 
THE PLACE DE l’eTOILE 
