This article is about the person who designed the basic plan for Washington, D.C. (capital city of the U.S.). For his father, see
Pierre L'Enfant (painter).
L'Enfant was born in
Paris on August 2, 1754,[3] as the third child and second son of
Pierre L'Enfant (1704–1787), a painter and professor at
Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture known for his panoramas of battles,[4] and Marie Leullier, the daughter of a French military officer. In 1758, his brother Pierre Joseph died at six, and Pierre Charles became the eldest son.[5] He studied art at the
Royal Academy from 1771 until 1776, when he left school in France to enlist in the
American Revolutionary War on the side of the rebelling colonials.[3]
Despite his aristocratic origins, L'Enfant closely identified with the United States, changing his first name from Pierre to Peter when he first came to the rebelling colonies in 1777.[8][9][10] L'Enfant served on General
George Washington's staff at
Valley Forge. While there, the Marquis de Lafayette commissioned L'Enfant to paint a portrait of Washington.[11]
During the war, L'Enfant made a number of pencil portraits of George Washington and other Continental Army officers.[12] He also made at least two paintings of Continental Army encampments.[13]
L'Enfant was wounded at the
Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779. He recovered and became a
prisoner of war at the surrender of
Charleston, South Carolina, on May 12, 1780. He was exchanged in November 1780 and served on General Washington's staff for the remainder of the American Revolution. L'Enfant was promoted by
brevet to
Major in the Corps of Engineers on May 2, 1783, in recognition of his service to the cause of American liberty. He was discharged when the Continental Army was disbanded in December 1783.[14]
Career
Post–Revolutionary War
Following the American Revolutionary War, L'Enfant established a successful and highly profitable civil engineering firm in New York City. He achieved some fame as an architect by redesigning the City Hall in New York for the
First Congress of the United States (See:
Federal Hall).[15]
L'Enfant also designed furniture and houses for the wealthy, as well as coins and medals. Among the medals was the eagle-shaped
badge of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of former officers of the Continental Army of which he was a founder. At the request of George Washington, the first President of the Society, L'Enfant had the insignias made in France during a 1783–84 visit to his father and helped to organize a chapter of the Society there.[16]
While L'Enfant was in New York City, he was initiated into
Freemasonry. His initiation took place on April 17, 1789, at Holland Lodge No. 8, F & A M, which the Grand Lodge of New York F & A M had chartered in 1787. L'Enfant took only the first of three degrees offered by the Lodge and did not progress further in Freemasonry.[18]
The Residence Act was the result of an important early political compromise between northern and southern congressional delegations, brokered by new
cabinet members,
Secretary of the TreasuryAlexander Hamilton of New York and political opponent, Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson, of
Virginia. It specified the new capital would be situated on the northern and southern banks of the
Potomac River, at some location, to be determined by the president, between the Eastern Branch (now referred to as the
Anacostia River) near Washington's estate of
Mount Vernon and the confluence with the
Conococheague Creek, further upstream near
Hagerstown, Maryland. The Residence Act also gave authority to President Washington to appoint three commissioners to oversee the survey of the ten mile square federal district and "according to such Plans, as the President shall approve," provide public buildings to accommodate the Federal government in 1800.[20][21]
President Washington appointed L'Enfant in 1791 to plan the new "Federal City" (later named
the "City of Washington") under the supervision of the three Commissioners, whom Washington had appointed to oversee the planning and development of the federal territory that would later become designated the
"District of Columbia". Included in the new district were the river port towns of
Georgetown (formerly in
Montgomery County of the
State of Maryland) and
Alexandria (in
Fairfax County, in the
Commonwealth of Virginia).[22]Thomas Jefferson, who worked alongside President Washington in overseeing the plans for the capital, sent L'Enfant a letter outlining his task, which was to provide a drawing of suitable sites for the federal city and the public buildings. Though Jefferson had modest ideas for the Capital, L'Enfant saw the task as far more grandiose, believing he was locating the capital, devising the city plan, and designing the buildings.[23]
L'Enfant arrived in
Georgetown on March 9, 1791, and began his work, from Suter's Fountain Inn.[25] Washington arrived later on March 28, to meet with L'Enfant and the Commissioners for several days.[26] On June 22, L'Enfant presented his first plan for the federal city to the President.[27][28][29] On August 19, he appended a new map to a letter that he sent to the President.[28][30]
President Washington retained a copy of one of L'Enfant's plans, showed it to the
Congress, and later gave it to the three Commissioners.[31] The U.S.
Library of Congress now holds both the plan that Washington apparently gave to the Commissioners and an undated anonymous "dotted line" survey map that the Library considers L'Enfant to have drawn before August 19, 1791.[31][32]
The full plan identifies "Peter Charles L'Enfant" as its author in the last line of an oval in its upper left corner.[24] The "dotted line" survey map may be one that L'Enfant appended to his August 19 letter to the President.[32][33]
L'Enfant's "Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of the United States..." encompassed an area bounded by the Potomac River, the Eastern Branch, the base of the
escarpment of the
Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line, and
Rock Creek.[29][31][34] His plan specified locations for two buildings, the "Congress House" (the
United States Capitol) and the "President's House" (known after its 1815–1817 rebuilding and re-painting of its stone walls, as the "
White House" or "Executive Mansion").[31]
The "Congress House" would be built on
"Jenkins Hill" (later to be known as "
Capitol Hill"), which L'Enfant described as a "pedestal awaiting a monument".[31][35] The "President's House" would be located at a northwest diagonal from the "Congress House" along the future
Pennsylvania Avenue.[22][31] The "President's House" would be situated on a ridge parallel to the Potomac River, north of a riverfront marsh and a canal (known as "
Tiber Canal" or the "
Washington City Canal" during the 1800s).[22][31][35]
L'Enfant envisioned the "President's House" to have public gardens and monumental architecture. Reflecting his grandiose visions, he specified that the "President's House" (occasionally referred to as the "President's Palace") would be five times the size of the building that was actually constructed, even then becoming the largest residence then constructed in America.[23] Emphasizing the importance of the new Nation's Legislature, the "Congress House" would be located on a
longitude designated as
0:0.[30][24][36][37]
The plan specified that most streets would be laid out in a grid. To form the grid, some streets (later named for letters of the alphabet) would travel in an east–west direction, while others (named for numbers) would travel in a north–south direction. Diagonal broader avenues, later named after the states of the Union, crossed the north–south-east/west grid.[31][37][38][39] The diagonal avenues intersected with the north–south and east–west streets at
circles and rectangular plazas that would later honor notable Americans and provide open space.[31]
L'Enfant laid out a 400 feet (122 m)-wide garden-lined "grand avenue", which he expected to travel for about 1 mile (1.6 km) along an east–west axis in the center of an area that would later become the
National Mall.[38][40] He also laid out a narrower avenue (Pennsylvania Avenue) which would connect the "Congress House" with the "President's House".[30][38] In time, Pennsylvania Avenue developed into the capital city's present "grand avenue".
L'Enfant's plan additionally laid out a system of canals (later designated as the
Washington City Canal) that would pass the "Congress House" and the "President's House". One branch of the canal would empty into the Potomac River south of the "President's House" at the mouth of old
Tiber Creek, which would be channelized and straightened.[31][38]
L'Enfant secured the lease of
quarries at
Wigginton Island and further southeast along
Aquia Creek off the lower Potomac River's southern bank in
Virginia to supply well-regarded "
Aquia Creek sandstone" for the
foundation and later for the wall slabs and blocks of the "Congress House" in November 1791.[41] However, his temperament and his insistence that his city design be realized as a whole brought him into conflict with the Commissioners, who wanted to direct the limited funds available into the construction of the Federal buildings. In this, they had the support of Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson.
During a contentious period in February 1792,
Andrew Ellicott, who had been conducting the original boundary survey of the future District of Columbia (see:
Boundary markers of the original District of Columbia) and the survey of the "Federal City" under the direction of the Commissioners, informed the Commissioners that L'Enfant had not been able to have the city plan engraved and had refused to provide him with the original plan (of which L'Enfant had prepared several versions).[42][43] Ellicott, with the aid of his brother,
Benjamin Ellicott, then revised the plan, despite L'Enfant's protests.[42][43][44] Ellicott's revisions, which included the straightening of the longer avenues and the removal of L'Enfant's
Square No. 15, created changes to the city's layout (See:
Randolph Square).[45]
Andrew Ellicott stated in his letters that, although he was refused the original plan, he was familiar with L'Enfant's system and had many notes of the surveys that he had made himself. It is, therefore, possible that Ellicott recreated the plan.[46] Ellicott's brother Joseph later adopted the radial plan of Washington for Buffalo, NY.
Shortly thereafter, Washington dismissed L'Enfant. After L'Enfant departed, Andrew Ellicott continued the city survey in accordance with the revised plan, several versions of which were engraved, published and distributed. As a result, Ellicott's revisions subsequently became the basis for the capital city's development.[42][47][48]
Soon after leaving the national capital area, L'Enfant prepared the initial plans for the city of
Paterson, in northeast
New Jersey along the
Passaic River, but was discharged from this project after a year had passed.[50] However, in 1846 the city reinstated the original scheme proposed by L'Enfant after the city's raceway system encountered problems. During the same period (1792–1793) he designed
Robert Morris's mansion in Philadelphia, which was never finished because of his delays and Morris's bankruptcy.[51] In 1794, L'Enfant was placed in charge of
reconstructing Fort Mifflin on Mud Island in the
Delaware River below
Philadelphia.[52]
In 1812, L'Enfant was offered a position as a professor of engineering at
United States Military Academy, at
West Point, New York, but declined that post. He later served as a professor of engineering at West Point from 1813 to 1817. In 1814, L'Enfant worked briefly on the construction of
Fort Washington on the
Potomac River southeast of Washington, D.C., but others soon replaced him.[53]
L'Enfant had no part in planning or platting
Perrysburg, Ohio, or
Indianapolis, Indiana, as has been claimed in Internet postings.[54] Alexander Bourne, Joseph Wampler and William Brookfield surveyed and platted the future Perrysburg area in 1816.[55]Alexander Ralston, an engineer who had assisted L'Enfant in planning the city of Washington, used elements of L'Enfant's plan for his own design and survey in the 1820s of the future city of
Indianapolis (the state capital of Indiana).[56]
Death
Although the
United States Congress had paid him for his work on the design of the City of Washington,[57] L'Enfant died in poverty on June 14, 1825. He was originally buried at the Green Hill farm in
Chillum,
Prince George's County, Maryland.[58] He left behind three watches, three compasses, some books, some maps, and surveying instruments, the total value was forty-six dollars.[59]
Legacy
In 1901 and 1902, the
McMillan Commission under the leadership of
SenatorJames McMillan, (1838–1902), of
Michigan, modified L'Enfant's plan within a report that recommended a partial redesign of the capital city.[47][60] Among other things, the commission's report laid out a plan for a
sweeping mall in the area of L'Enfant's widest "grand avenue", which had not yet been constructed.[47][60] The McMillan Plan has since been instrumental in the further development of Washington, D.C. (See:
History of Washington, D.C. in the 20th century).[47]
In 1911, a monument was placed on top of L'Enfant's grave during a dedication ceremony at which President
William Howard Taft, Jusserand, and Senator
Elihu Root spoke. Engraved on the monument is a portion of L'Enfant's plan in a diagram map, which Andrew Ellicott's revision and the
McMillan Commission's plan had superseded.[47][58]
Honors
In 1942, an American cargo-carrying
Liberty ship in
World War II, named the
S.S. Pierre L'Enfant was launched, part of a series of almost 2,000 ships mass-produced in an "assembly-line" fashion from eleven coastal shipyards. In 1970, she was shipwrecked and abandoned.
L'Enfant Plaza, a complex of office buildings, was dedicated in 1968 and named for the architect. It includes the 1972 headquarters of the
United States Postal Service, an adjacent
L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, an office building and underground parking garage, and a series of underground corridors with a shopping center, centered around an
esplanade ('L'Enfant Promenade") in southwest Washington, D.C.. Meeting rooms in the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel bear the names of French artists, military leaders, and explorers. The central portion of the plaza contains an engraved map of the city by
Pierre L'Enfant from 1791. Within the city map is a smaller map that shows the plaza's location.
Beneath L'Enfant Plaza is one of the central Metro subway stops in Washington, D.C., the
L'Enfant Plaza station.
In 1980, Western Plaza (subsequently renamed to "
Freedom Plaza") opened in downtown Washington, D.C., adjacent to
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. A raised marble inlay in the Plaza's surface depicts parts of L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the City of Washington. The inlay contains an oval bearing the title of the plan followed by the words "By Peter Charles L'Enfant".[63][64]
In 2003, L'Enfant's 1791 Plan for Washington was commemorated on a
USPS commemorative postage stamp.[65] The diamond shape of the stamp reflects the original 100 square miles (259 km2) tract of land selected for the District. Shown is a view along the
National Mall, including the Capitol, the
Washington Monument, and the
Lincoln Memorial. Also portrayed are
cherry blossoms around the
"Tidal Basin" and row houses from the
Shaw neighborhood.
Since 2005, the
National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. has held an annual "L'Enfant Lecture on City Planning and Design" to draw attention to critical issues in city and regional planning in the United States.[68]
The American Planning Association (APA) has created an award named in "L'Enfant's honor" which recognizes excellence in international planning.[69]
^The street plan was modeled after
Pierre L'Enfant's plan for Washington, D.C., featuring broad radiating boulevards and central squares.[2]
References
^"Though today he is commonly referred by his French birth name, Pierre, L’Enfant referred to himself as “Peter,” the anglicized version of his name, after coming to America to fight in the Revolutionary War."
Pierre L'Enfant, Washington Library, mountvernon.org
^(1) Caemmerer (1950), p. 85 (2) Autograph letter signed. Pierre L'Enfant to Baron de Steuben, June 10, 1783. Society of the Cincinnati Archives, Washington, D.C. (3)
Jusserand, pp. 145–149Archived March 26, 2017, at the
Wayback Machine
^Ellis, Joseph J. (2002).
"The Dinner". Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Vintage. pp. 50–52.
ISBN0-375-70524-4.
Archived from the original on April 26, 2016.
^
abPassanneau, Joseph R. (2004). Washington Through Two Centuries: A History in Maps and Images. New York: The Monacelli Press, Inc. pp. 14–16, 24–27.
ISBN1-58093-091-3.
^
abcL'Enfant, P.C. (August 19, 1791).
"To The President of the United States". L'Enfant's Reports to President Washington Bearing Dates of March 26, June 22, and August 19, 1791: Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 2. Washington, D.C.:
Columbia Historical Society (1899): 38–48.
Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
^Federal Writers' Project (1937). Washington, City and Capital: Federal Writers' Project. Works Progress Administration / United States
Government Printing Office. p. 210.
^
abc(1) Tindall, William (1914).
"IV. The First Board of Commissioners". Standard History of the City of Washington From a Study of the Original Sources. Knoxville, Tennessee: H. W. Crew and Company. pp. 148–149.
Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. (2) Stewart, John (1898).
"Early Maps and Surveyors of the City of Washington, D.C". Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 2: 55–56.
Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
^Miller, Richard E. (April 15, 2009).
"Freedom Plaza Marker". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
^Busch, Richard T.; Smith, Kathryn Schneider.
"W.7: Freedom Plaza: 13th and E Sts NW". Civil War to Civil Rights Downtown Heritage Trail. Washington, DC: Cultural Tourism DC. Archived from
the original on December 31, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
"Pierre Charles L'Enfant". Arlington National Cemetery: Historical Information. arlingtoncemetery.org – an unofficial website. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2017.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
Graham, Jed (July 21, 2006).
"Pierre Charles L'Enfant: Major, United States Army: Designer Of Washington, D.C." ArlingtonCemetery.net. (Unofficial website). Archived from
the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2017. L'Enfant served under Washington at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the winter of 1777–78 and became known for his pencil portraits of officers, including Washington.