French civil engineer, born at Grenoble on the 26th of October 1817. Having received his training at the technical and engineering schools of Paris, and being assigned to Bordeaux, he was appointed, in 1843, engineer of bridges and highways of that neighborhood. In this position he came under the notice of the prefect, Baron Haussman, who, on his becoming prefect of the Seine, called Alphand to his assistance as engineer of the improvements of the city of Paris. This work gave Alphand full scope for the development of his genius, and to him are due those marvelous creations that transformed the old into the new Paris. After the Franco-Prussian war he was appointed by President Thiers, and also by President MacMahon, to fill the chief offices of the city’s special services. No work in the city or the prefecture of the Seine could be undertaken without Alphand’s approval. He exhibited great ingenuity in obliterating the traces of the siege of Paris by the Germans and the destructive work of the Commune. Having had an important share in the work of the exposition of 1878, he was chosen as the director-general of works of the exposition of 1889, with which he combined other offices connected therewith. In this year he was promoted to the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. He found time during his busy career to write two important works: Les Promenades des Paris, and Arboretum et Fleuriste de la Ville de Paris, which he treated in a general and interesting manner. He died on the 6th of December 1891.
