Some images on a rainy day in the 7th

ISM (International School of Management) is located in central Paris, in the sorta bourgeoisie 7th arrondissement.  This is where you see a lot of the Haussmann architecture that went up in 19th Century Paris.  I learned last week at an expat event offered by The American Church in Paris (Bloom Where You are Planted), that Paris was essentially razed after the revolution, in order to create a more sanitary, organized city.  Haussmann was brought in to design the buildings and worked closely with engineers to ensure that the new Paris was clean, easy to navigate, had proper sanitation, schools - all the infrastructure necessary for a city where people could live well. Before the city was razed, it was utterly disgusting. People threw their wastes out of the windows onto the streets which eventually found it's way into the canals and back into their drinking and cleaning water.  Before the reconstruction, about 30,000 people died in a cholera epidemic because of the poor sanitary conditions.  Buildings were just thrown up whereever there was space and because of the chaos and disorganization - and the poor living conditions - mayhem run amock:  The perfect conditions for all the rebellion, crime, and war that eventually took place.

Haussmann designed the city to have main thoroughfares, or avenues, that had housing on both sides, 6 stories high, with the bottom floor meant for commerce or commercial activity. Typically the owner of the main floor business lived on what was considered the 1st floor (US 2nd floor).  The very top floor, due to there not being elevators at the time the buildings were constructed, were meant for maids and other help staff.  Those apartments these days, now with the buildings updated with elevators, are highly sought after, due to the amazing views of the city.

The speaker also pointed out that if you see buildings with masonry balconies, those were where the REAL rich people lived, since it was costly to create those.  Those with iron clad balconies, were for those that were sorta rich:-).  Nonetheless, the construction drove out of central Paris most of the folks who had dwelt there during the time of mayhem and poor sanitation - out to the outer rural areas - some of which were pulled into become part of Paris (Paris was much smaller before reconstruction).  Our 19th arrondissement is one of those areas that was pulled in to become part of the city.

So, I took a couple of pics, but not really good pics of a street in the 7th. Will do more in the future. This is just a taste: