H ouse and Garden 
present Place de la Republique, with the 
vast network of boulevards dependent upon 
it, was the most original, if not the most 
monumental, of Haussmann’s undertakings. 
In laying out the Place de la Republique 
(1858-1867) the old type of the rond point 
was abandoned and an elongated rectangle 
employed instead. Radiating from this, and 
forming proper angles with the Boulevard 
Saint-Martin and the Boulevard du Temple, 
were constructed the Boulevard Magenta, 
leading northward to the Gare de l’Est and 
Gare du Nord, and the Avenue des Aman- 
diers, now de la Republique, leading to the 
Cemetery of Pere-la-Chaise. The Boule¬ 
vard du Prince-Eugene, now Voltaire, lead¬ 
ing to the Place de la Nation, is nearly in 
the long axis of the Place de la Republique. 
The Rue de Turbigo was built to connect 
the Place de la Republique with the Halles 
Centrales at the Point Saint-Eustache. In 
the network of streets about the Place de la 
Republique is to be included the Boulevard 
Richard-Lenoir, cleverly designed to conceal 
the Canal Saint-Martin. 
All the streets in this region belong to 
H aussmann’s favorite type of votes diagonales, 
which shorten distances and make interesting 
intersections. Haussmann used the axial ar¬ 
rangements which he inherited from previous 
periods sympathetically, but did not invent 
any designs of this type. In laying out his 
votes diagonals, however, he was keenly 
alive to artistic and monumental opportuni¬ 
ties. He delights to tell us in his “ 'Me¬ 
moir es ” that he never opened a new street 
without considering carefully what monu¬ 
ments might be brought into vista. 
Haussmann completed the old Place du 
Trone, now Place de la Nation, begun two 
hundred years before, following closely the 
suggestions of the old maps. 
One of the most charming of his crea¬ 
tions is the Boulevard Malesherbes, spring¬ 
ing from the Rue Royale at the same angle 
as the Boulevard de la Madeleine, the three 
streets forming a fine emplacement for the 
Church of the Madeleine. At its intersec¬ 
tion with the Boulevard Haussmann, the 
Boulevard Malesherbes bends a little to the 
VERTICAL SECTIONS OF TYPICAL PARIS STREETS From Alphand 
285 
