The Square des Batignolles, which covers of land, is the largest green space in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Designed in the naturalistic English-garden style, it lies in the district (quartier) of Batignolles, near the new Parc Clichy-Batignolles. The name The origin of the name "Batignolles" may be the Latin word, "batillus", meaning "mill", or, it may be derived from the Provençal word "bastidiole", meaning "small farmhouse". History Until the early nineteenth century, the area was largely deserted countryside with a few scattered farms. The square was established under the Second Empire, at the request of Baron Haussmann, who fulfilled the desire of Napoleon III to establish several English-style gardens in the capital. Napoleon III had acquired a taste for the English garden during his exile in England, prior to 1848. The Square des Batignolles was created by Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, assisted by the engineer, Jean Darcel, the architect, Gabriel Davioud, and the horticulturist, Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, on a tract of land that had been described as "a vast wasteland". This was the same team that had been assembled to design and execute the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris. In 1860, Napoleon III annexed the district of Batignolles to Paris. In 1862, Alphand designed and created the Square des Batignolles. Alphand was the engineer for most of the parks built at this time, including the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Parc Montsouris, and others. Currently, the mayor of Paris is trying to maintain the Square des Batignolles in the pure Haussmann-Alphand style. This style is most visible in small bridges, concrete designs with plant motifs, and faux rocks with the appearance of stratification (as at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont). Description The Square des Batignolles was designed as an English garden (or landscape garden), a style first made popular by the English landscape architect, Capability Brown. The English landscape garden The key to this style is naturalism, a studied, but unselfconscious, attempt to leave the impression that the grounds are untouched by human hands. The landscaper employs his artistry, through the use of various forms of asymmetric balance, to convince the visitor that the apparent wildness and randomness of the terrain is the product of artful Nature, rather than the artifice of Man. In contrast to previous formal gardens, with their geometrically designed parterres and pathways, their severely clipped shrubbery, and the artificiality of their topiary, which reflect an attempt