Urban Transformation Continues

While political battles raged, Paris continued its physical transformation. Baron Haussmann had been dismissed in 1870, but his vision outlived him. The broad boulevards he had carved through medieval Paris now needed to be rebuilt after the devastation of the siege and Commune. This reconstruction coincided with new ideas about urban living.

The apartment house at 25 Avenue de l'Opéra, completed in 1878, exemplified the new Paris. Its façade displayed the regulated harmony Haussmann had mandated: uniform height, aligned balconies, cream-colored stone. But inside, it reflected the Belle Époque's emerging social dynamics. The ground floor hosted fashionable shops. The first and second floors—the "noble" levels—contained grand apartments with high ceilings and elaborate moldings for wealthy families. As one climbed higher, ceilings lowered and decorations simplified. Under the mansard roof, tiny chambres de bonne housed servants who descended before dawn to prepare their employers' lives.

This vertical segregation created unique social interactions. The new elevator—still a luxury—might carry a banker's wife in silk and pearls alongside her maid returning from the market. The shared stairwell became a space where different classes navigated around each other, maintaining careful boundaries while acknowledging their interdependence.