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'Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant' (2 August 1754, Paris, France – 14 June 1825, Prince George's County, Maryland) was a French-born American architect and urban planner. L'Enfant designed the first street plan for the Federal City in the United States, now known as Washington, D.C.

Contents

Early life

Military service

Architect and planner

Private life

McMillan Plan

Honors

Notes

References

Early life

L'Enfant was born at the Gobelins, Paris, the third child and second son of Marie Charlotte L'Enfant (aged 25 and the daughter of a minor marine official at court) and Pierre L'Enfant (1704-1787), a painter with a good reputation in the service of the king. In 1758 his brother Pierre Joseph died at the age of six, leaving him the eldest son. He studied at the Royal Academy in the Louvre before enrolling to fight in the American Revolution.

Military service

In 1777, L'Enfant moved to the American colonies as a military engineer with Major General Lafayette and served in the Continental Army.^[1] L'Enfant became closely identified with the United States, adopting the name 'Peter'.^[2] He was wounded at the Siege of Savannah in 1779, but recovered and served in General Washington's staff as a Captain of Engineers for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. He was promoted by brevet to Major of Engineers on May 2, 1783 in recognition of his service to American liberty.^[3]

Architect and planner

Following the 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 Federal Hall. He also designed coins, medals, furniture and houses of the wealthy, and was a friend of treasurer Alexander Hamilton.
In 1791, L'Enfant was appointed by President George Washington to design a new federal capital city under the supervision of three commissioners that Washington had appointed to oversee the planning and development of the 10 mile square of federal territory that would later become the District of Columbia. L'Enfant arrived in Georgetown on March 9, 1791, and began his work.^[4] L'Enfant's plan was presented to George Washington on August 19, 1791.^[5] He secured the lease of quarries at Wigginton Island and along Aquia Creek in Virginia for use in the foundations of the Capitol in November 1791.^[6]
Because of his temperament and insistence on the city being realised as a whole, L'Enfant's plan for the Federal City was only partially executed during his lifetime. The District commissioners wanted to direct the limited funds available into the construction of the federal buildings; in this, they had the support of Thomas Jefferson. As a result of L'Enfant's frequent conflicts with the commissioners, George Washington dismissed L'Enfant from the project in March 1792, before L'Enfant was able to find a publisher for his plan.^[7] However, George Washington retained a copy of one of L'Enfant's original plans, which is now in the possession of the U.S. Library of Congress. ^[8] The last line in an oval in the upper left hand corner of the plan identifies its author as "Peter Charles L'Enfant".
Following L'Enfant's dismissal, the commissioners placed the planning for the Capitol city in the hands of the surveyors, Andrew and Joseph Ellicott, who had earlier conducted the original boundary survey of the future District of Columbia. Andrew Ellicott then revised L'Enfant's plan and, unlike L'Enfant, succeeded in having his own version of the plan engraved, published, and distributed. ^[9] Ellicott's revision subsequently became the basis for the capital city's development.
L'Enfant was not paid for his work and fell into disgrace, spending much of the rest of his life trying to persuade Congress to pay him what he felt he was owed. He was offered a position as Professor of Engineering at West Point, in 1812, but declined. L'Enfant died in poverty and was buried at the farm of a friend in Prince George's County, Maryland.
In 1909, by order of Congress, L'Enfant's remains were disinterred and lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda. L'Enfant's remains were reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Private life

L'Enfant's decade-long relationship with Richard Soderstrom began in 1794. The two shared living quarters near Philadelphia and collaborated in business. In 1801, Soderstrom billed L'Enfant for his share of their living expenses, and a legal dispute followed.

McMillan Plan

In 1901, the McMillan Commission used L'Enfant's plan as the cornerstone of its 1902 report, which laid out a plan for a sweeping National Mall. At the instigation of the French ambassador, Jean Jules Jusserand, L'Enfant's adopted nation then finally recognized his contributions. In 1909, after a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, L'Enfant's remains were reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery, on a hill overlooking the city that he had partially designed. ^[10]. In 1911, he was honored with a monument placed on top of his grave. Engraved on the monument is a portion of L'Enfant's own plan, which Andrew Ellicott had later superseded. ^[11]

Honors

★ In 1942, a United States Liberty ship named the SS ''Pierre L'Enfant'' was launched. In 1970, she was wrecked, then abandoned.

★ One of the central Metro stops in Washington DC, L'Enfant Plaza, is named for him.

Notes

1. Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Morgan, J.D., , , Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
2. Bowling, Kenneth R.,
Peter Charles L’Enfant: vision, honor, and male friendship in the early American Republic.
George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 2002.
3. Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Morgan, J.D., , , Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
4. Early Maps and Surveyors of the City of Washington, D.C., Stewart, John, , , Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
5. Early Maps and Surveyors of the City of Washington, D.C., Stewart, John, , , Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
6. Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Morgan, J.D., , , Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
7. L'Enfant's Personal Affairs, Bryan, W.B., , , Records of the Columbia Historical Society,
8. U.S. Library of Congress: Pierre Charles L'Enfant's 1791 "Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government ...."
9. Washington Map Society: Plan of the City of Washington
10. Gravesite of Peter Charles L'Enfant in Arlington National Cemetery (Hybrid satellite image/street map from WikiMapia, )
11. Arlington National Cemetery: Historical Information: Pierre Charles L'Enfant

References

★ Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C., Berg, Scott W., , , Pantheon Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-375-42280-5