Adolphe Alphand

Born in Grenoble, Alphand entered the École polytechnique in 1835 and continued his engineering studies at the prestigious École des ponts et chaussées in 1837. He began his career as an engineer in the coastal city of Bordeaux, working on improvements to the port, railways, as well as other infrastructure. It was in Bordeaux that Alphand met and earned the trust of Baron Haussmann, who was prefect of Gironde at the time.

In 1854, the year after Haussmann was promoted to the powerful role of prefect of Seine in Paris by Emperor Napoleon III, Haussmann hired Alphand as chief engineer of the Bois de Boulogne, a role which soon expanded into director of the newly formed parks department (Service des Promenades et Plantations) in 1855, as well as later into an all-around director of public works.{{Cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Richard S. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/890971696 |title=Planning the greenspaces of nineteenth-century Paris |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-8071-5984-2 |location=Baton Rouge |oclc=890971696}} Under Napoleon III, Alphand participated in the renovation of Paris directed by Baron Haussmann between 1852 and 1870, in the company of engineer Eugène Belgrand and the landscape architect Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps among others.{{Cite journal |last=Shapiro |first=Gideon Fink |date=2022-01-19 |title=Luxury for All: Beautiful Urban Parks as a Public Good |url=https://placesjournal.org/article/george-sand-beautiful-urban-parks-as-a-public-good/ |journal=Places Journal |language=en-US |doi=10.22269/220119|doi-access=free }} As head of the parks department, Alphand worked closely with his chief architect Gabriel Davioud.

Alphand created walks, parks and gardens designed to embellish and sanitise Paris. He also heavily remodeled the Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Boulogne in Paris's 12th and 16th arrondissements, respectively. Among the most dramatic transformations was the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, established on the site of a former quarry, complete with waterfalls and grotto.{{Cite journal |last=Komara |first=Ann |date=2004 |title=Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque the Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40480519 |journal=Journal of Architectural Education |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=5–12 |doi=10.1162/1046488041578158 |jstor=40480519 |s2cid=110945682 |issn=1046-4883|url-access=subscription }} In total, during the French Second Empire period, Alphand oversaw the creation or renovation of two large parks outside the city walls, three mid-size parks within the city walls, approximately 20 small garden "squares," and numerous tree-lined walks along avenues and boulevards in Paris.{{Cite thesis |last=Shapiro |first=Gideon Fink |date=2015-01-01 |editor-last=Hunt |editor-first=John Dixon |title=The Promenades of Paris. Alphand and the Urbanization of Garden Art, 1852-1871 |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2002 |journal=University of Pennsylvania Dissertations}} Although public parks had previously existed, according to one scholar, "Never before, in Europe or beyond, had landscape architecture played such a prominent role in so vast an urban renewal project."{{Cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Gideon Fink |title=Urban Landscape |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=9780415706957 |editor-last=Berrizbeitia |editor-first=Anita |volume=3 |location=New York |page=163 |chapter=Alphand and the Urbanization of Garden Art in Paris}}

Adolphe Alphand's notable accomplishments include:

• The Square du Temple
• The Paris Observatory Avenue (Avenue de l'Observatoire)
• The gardens of Champs-Élysées
• Parc Monceau
• Boulevard Richard-Lenoir
• The Bois de Vincennes
• Parc Montsouris
• The Bois de Boulogne
• The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
• The Square des Batignolles
• The Jardin des Plantes du Mans

File:Père-Lachaise - Division 66 - Alphand 02.jpg (Jules Coutan, sculptor)]]

File:Paris16 Foch Monument Alphand.jpg, Paris. This monument is the work of sculptor Aimé-Jules Dalou and architect Jean-Camille Formigé.]]

After the retirement of Baron Haussmann, his successor, Léon Say, entrusted to Alphand the position of Director of Public Works of Paris. Under this title, Alphand continued Haussmann's works. Alphand also became the Director of Water Works after the death of Eugène Belgrand in 1878. In particular, Alphand directed the construction of:

• The fortifications of Paris
• The Trocadéro Gardens, carried out for the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878
• Preparation for the Universal Exposition of 1889
• The promenade and the gardens of Paris's Hôtel de Ville

Alphand died in 1891. He was interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery (division 67) after a grand funeral organised by the City of Paris. Avenue Alphand in Paris's 16th arrondissement was named after him in 1907.

• Alphand, Adolphe (1867-1873). [http://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/collection/item/17295-les-promenades-de-paris-texte Les Promenades de Paris. Texte] [Text]. Rothschild.
• Alphand, Adolphe (1867-1873). [http://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/viewer/17298/?offset=#page=2&viewer=picture Les Promenades de Paris. Planches [Plates].] Paris: Rothschild.
• {{Cite book |last=Alphand |first=Adolphe |title=Les Promenades de Paris |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |location=New York, New York |year=1984 |isbn=0-910413-06-1}} Reprint. Originally published Paris : Rothschild, 1867–1873.

{{botanist|Alphand}}

• {{Cite book |last=Fierro |first=Alfred |title= Life and History of the 19th Arrondissement |publisher=Editions Hervas |location=Paris |year=1999 |isbn=2-903118-29-9 |chapter=Buttes-Chaumont |pages=80–100}}

• {{Cite book |last=Downie |first=David |author-link=David Downie |title=Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Om-icFFLYQC&q=alphand |publisher=Transatlantic Press |location=Fort Bragg |year=2005 |isbn=0-9769251-0-9 |chapter=Montsouris and Buttes-Chaumont: the art of the faux |pages=34–41}}
• Hopkins, Richard S. (2015). [https://books.google.com/books/about/Planning_the_Greenspaces_of_Nineteenth_C.html?id=7xYuCAAAQBAJ Planning the Greenspaces of Nineteenth-Century Paris]. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. {{ISBN|0807159867}}, 9780807159866.
• Jordan, David P. (1995). [http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Transforming-Paris/David-P-Jordan/9781439106013 Transforming Paris: The Life and Labors of Baron Haussmann]. New York: Simon and Schuster. {{ISBN|0029165318}}, 978–0029165317.
• Komara, Ann (2004). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40480519?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Concrete and the Engineered Picturesque the Parc des Buttes Chaumont (Paris, 1867)]. Journal of Architectural Education Vol. 58, No. 1, Construction and Context (Sep., 2004), pp. 5-12.
• Komara, Ann (2009). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/43324422?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Measure and Map: Alphand's Contours of Construction at the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Paris 1867]." Landscape Journal Vol. 28, No. 1 (2009), pp. 22-39
• Picon, Antoine. "Nineteenth-Century Cartography and the Scientific Ideal: The Case of Paris." Osiris Vol 18 (2003), pp 135–149. University of Chicago Press.
• Shapiro, Gideon Fink. "Alphand and the Urbanization of Garden Art in Paris." In Urban Landscape Vol. 3 (pp. 162–175), Edited by Anita Berrizbeitia. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415706957

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Category:French civil engineers

Category:French gardeners

Category:French bridge engineers

Category:French urban planners

Category:1817 births

Category:1891 deaths

Category:Corps des ponts

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Category:École Polytechnique alumni

Category:École des Ponts ParisTech alumni

Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Category:19th-century French architects

Category:19th-century French engineers

Category:French landscape architects