ALPHAND

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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26.10.1817 Grenoble/F - 6.12.1891 Paris/F

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Adolphe Alphand was posted to Bordeaux once having completed studies at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1839, where he collaborated with Haussmann, later the star designer of modern Paris city. The latter asked Alphand in 1854 to embellish the capital. After having created lasting monuments such as Champs d'Elysées or Bois de Boulogne, Alphand was in charge of public transportation from 1862, and in 1871 advanced to the director of public works of the capital. Alphand took over as the director of waters of the capital after the death of Eugène Belgrand (1810-1878). After eminent hydraulicians such as Henry Darcy (1803-1858), Jules Dupuit (1804-1866) and then Belgrand, Alphand thus was asked to complete all questions relating to water supply and wastewater removal of one of the largest European cities. He was also significantly involved in the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, his last and maybe most successful work during a long professional career.

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Alphand had great opportunities to transform Paris to the pleasure ground of Europe. The money at his command was enormous and he spent it lavishly, often sacrificing large sums in order to get a public monument such as a fountain with its centre in line with a new road. His contributions to engineering are confined to reports contained in the annual budgets. His outstanding genius was a combination of engineering and architectural approach to a city, including of course also the hydraulic works needed as a basic infrastructure. Alphand was appointed Inspecteur Générale in 1875 and was awarded the Grand Cross of Légion d'Honneur following the World Exhibition in 1889.

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_{Alphand, A. (1867). Les promenades de Paris: Histoire, descriptions des embellissements, dépenses de création et d'entretien des Bois de Boulogne et de Vincennes. Rothschild: Paris. Alphand, A. (1880). Atlas des anciens plans de Paris: Reproduction en fac-simile des originaux les plus rares pour la topographie parisienne. Imprimerie Nationale: Paris.}

_{Alphand, A. (1892). Exposition Universelle Internationale de 1889 à Paris. Rothschild: Paris. Anonymous (1887). M. Alphand. L'Illustration 45(2293): Frontispiece. P}

_{Anonymous (1891). M. Alphand. Le Génie Civil 20(7): 118.}

_{Anonymous (1892). Jean Charles Adolphe Alphand. Minutes Institution of Civil Engineers 107: 390-392.}

_{Coronio, G. (1997). Adolphe Alphand. 250 ans de l'Ecole des Ponts en cents portraits: 122-125. Presses de l'Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées: Paris. P}