Haussmannian apartment

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The iconically French Haussmann style of architecture is still hugely popular with those who love property.

Hausmann’s architectural revolution

We have to go back to 1853 to understand how the Haussmann style took over France’s major cities, because that was the year in which Napoleon III appointed Georges-Eugène Haussmann as Prefect of the Seine region. Over a period of 17 years, the Baron supervised a huge programme of works that remodelled the capital, including the demolition of 18,000 buildings to make way for avenues and boulevards, and construction of 30,000 new buildings. Inspired by the public health theories of the time, he also commissioned more than 800 kilometres of sewers for Paris, which previously had only 160 kilometres.

As a result, 60% of the buildings we see in Paris today are Haussmann-style, but that fact doesn’t make them either commonplace or cheap, and prestige Haussmann-style apartments are even a rarity. Ashlar facades and zinc roofs may be a Parisian trademark, but the Haussmann style has been exported well beyond the capital’s périphérique. Rouen, Dijon, Angers, Lille, Toulon, Nîmes and Lyon were also transformed in the same style during the Second Empire.

Parquet – Mouldings – Fireplace

The DNA of the Haussmann style embraces what is known as the ‘aesthetics of rationality’. The bourgeois buildings constructed at that time share a strong family resemblance, with dressed stone facades of exactly the same height and embellished with balconies on the second and fifth floors. Followed absolutely to the letter, this vocabulary is today synonymous with character property. With their herringbone parquet floors, sophisticated ceiling mouldings and marble fireplaces, Haussmann-style apartments remain a copper-bottomed property investment.

But although Haussmann-style apartments are classically styled period properties, they can easily be updated and redesigned to change the layout of the rooms, replace the windows to reduce noise levels or fit an open-plan kitchen/diner.

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