Abstract: The examples of two small Parisian streets enlarged by Haussmann, the rue de l’Annonciation and the rue de l’Ourcq, show that roads are a good indicator of material and social change in Paris between the nineteenth century and twentieth century. Annual reports (the Bottin) and censuses taken in the interwar period provide a detailed account of the streets’ residents, as well as the evolution in, and banalisation of, construction work.
