Haussmann and the Beaux-Arts
Napoleon III had Paris rebuilt with boulevards and uniform stone buildings. The Beaux-Arts style of the academy and the iron of the engineers developed side by side.
Haussmann’s transformation from 1853 gave Paris its boulevards, parks and sewers. Charles Garnier’s opera house, opened in 1875, is the showpiece of the Second Empire, with a staircase that is a stage for the audience.
Engineers built market halls, stations and exhibition halls of iron. Gustave Eiffel’s tower, built for the World’s Fair of 1889, was at about 300 metres the tallest structure in the world. Around 1900 Hector Guimard’s métro entrances gave Paris Art Nouveau.