Military service , where L'Enfant grew up After his education L'Enfant was recruited by
Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to serve in the
American Revolutionary War in the United States. He arrived in 1777 at the age of 23, and served as a
military engineer in the
Continental Army with
Major General Lafayette. He was commissioned as a captain in the
Corps of Engineers on April 3, 1779, to rank from February 18, 1778. 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 British
Thirteen Colonies in 1777. L'Enfant served General
George Washington's staff at
Valley Forge. While there, the Marquis de Lafayette commissioned L'Enfant to paint a portrait of Washington. During the war, L'Enfant made a number of pencil portraits of George Washington and other Continental Army officers. He also made at least two paintings of Continental Army encampments in 1782. They depict panoramas of West Point and Washington's tent at Verplanck's Point. The latter details what is believed to be "the only known wartime depiction of Washington’s tent by an eyewitness." The seven-and-a-half-foot-long painting was purchased by the Museum of American Revolution in
Philadelphia. In the fall of 1779, L’Enfant contributed to the
Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, authored by General
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. He was tasked to draft the eight "plates" or illustrations detailing camp and troop formations, as he was the only artistically trained individual involved. The "Blue Book" was completed by April 1779, receiving approval from General Washington and Congress. For his efforts, Congress awarded L’Enfant $500 and officially promoted him to captain of engineers, retroactive to February 1778. 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. While the historical consensus generally attributes the creation of the
Badge of Military Merit, later known as the
Purple Heart, to George Washington in 1782, there is an implied claim by Pamela Scott, Washington D.C. historian and former editor of The L'Enfant Papers at the
Library of Congress, that L'Enfant may have conceived the medal's design. 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. In acknowledgment of his Revolutionary War contributions, L'Enfant received of land in present-day Ohio from the United States. However, he never set foot on or resided in the granted land. A map outlining the territory was sketched on the reverse side of a segment of L'Enfant's land deed, signed by President Thomas Jefferson on January 13, 1803.
Post–Revolutionary War , who supported L'Enfant and helped him secure work in
Paterson, New Jersey after he was dismissed from the federal city project Following the American Revolutionary War, L'Enfant settled in New York City and achieved fame as an architect by redesigning the City Hall in New York for the
First Congress of the United States (See:
Federal Hall). 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. In 1787, L'Enfant received an inheritance upon his father's death that included a farm in
Normandy. His military pension and success as a designer provided financial stability enabling him to pursue his career and contribute to various projects for a period of time. 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. L'Enfant designed the "Glory" ornamentation above the altar in
St. Paul's Church. The chapel, built in 1766, is the oldest continuously used building in New York City. George Washington worshipped there on his inauguration day. The intricate design vividly depicts Mt. Sinai amidst clouds and lightning, capturing the dramatic moment of divine revelation. At the center of the piece is the Hebrew word for "God" enclosed within a triangle, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. Below, the two tablets of the Law are inscribed with the Ten Commandments, highlighting the enduring significance of these foundational moral laws. L'Enfant was also a close friend of
Alexander Hamilton. Some of their correspondences from 1793 to 1801 now reside in the
Library of Congress. Hamilton is credited with helping L'Enfant with the federal city commission.
Plan for Washington, D.C. The new
Constitution of the United States, which took effect in March and April 1789, gave the newly organized
Congress of the United States authority to establish a
federal district up to 10 miles (16 km) in size. L'Enfant had already written first to President
George Washington, asking to be commissioned to plan the city. However, a decision on the capital was put on hold until July 1790 when the
First Congress passed the "
Residence Act", setting the site of the new federal district and national capital to be on the shores of the
Potomac River. 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 Treasury Alexander 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 square federal district and "according to such Plans, as the President shall approve," provide public buildings to accommodate the Federal government in 1800. 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, who 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).
Thomas Jefferson, who worked alongside President Washington in overseeing the plans for the development of the new 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 not only surveying the capital, but devising the city plan and designing the buildings. The work of
André Le Nôtre, particularly his
Gardens of Versailles and
Tuileries Garden, is said to have influenced L'Enfant's master plan for the capital.
Arrival in Georgetown L'Enfant arrived in
Georgetown on March 9, 1791, and began his work, from Suter's Fountain Inn. Washington arrived later on March 28, to meet with L'Enfant and the Commissioners for several days. On June 22, L'Enfant presented his first plan for the federal city to the President. On August 19, he appended a new map to a letter that he sent to the President. , roughly , had been allocated to the city with the ambitious goal of having one million residents inhabit the area; it was to be as large as the occupied portions of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia combined. 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. The full plan identifies "Peter Charles L'Enfant" as its author in the last line of an oval in its upper left corner. 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. 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"). 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. Emphasizing the importance of the new Nation's Legislature, the "Congress House" would be located on a
longitude designated as
0:0. A sunburst of avenues would radiate out from this structure affirming its role as the center of the new republic.
John Trumbull was given a tour of "Jenkins Hill" by L'Enfant himself; Trumbull confirmed in his autobiography that the concept for a "great circular room and dome" had originated with L'Enfant. It is unknown what L'Enfant's vision for the capitol building would have looked like. However, a separate plan submitted at a later date by his draftsman
Étienne Sulpice Hallet might provides researchers a glimpse of what L'Enfant may have had in mind. Hallet's plan incorporates L'Enfant's ideas and shows different points of focus that align with the radiating avenues, thus ensuring harmony and balance that was important to L'Enfant.
President's House L'Enfant envisioned the "President's House" (later to be known as The
White 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. The Mall was to be a democratic and egalitarian space—the complete opposite of the gardens of
Versailles where only royalty and nobility accessed similar spaces in size and scope. It was to be flanked by gardens and spacious accommodations for foreign ministers.
Pennsylvania Avenue L'Enfant also laid out a narrower avenue, later named
Pennsylvania Avenue, which connected two important landmarks: "Congress House" and the "President's House".
Plan revisions and dismissal 's 1792 revision of L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the "Federal City", later Washington City, District of Columbia, in present-day
Washington, D.C. 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. 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. Meanwhile, a concurrent plot began brewing that involved a local and wealthy landowner named Daniel Carroll of Duddington. He built a house that protruded exactly where L'Enfant planned for New Jersey Avenue SE to run; L'Enfant had ordered that the house be torn down. 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). Additionally, L'Enfant hinted that he rendered draft plans for the "Congress House" and "President's House", but he was not ready to share them. During a trip to Philadelphia in December 1791, his office had been burgled and sketches and plans for the city and public buildings had been stolen. 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. Ellicott, with the aid of his brother,
Benjamin Ellicott, later revised the plan, despite L'Enfant's protests. Ellicott's revisions included the straightening of
Massachusetts Avenue, the removal of
Randolph Square (close to present-day
Shaw Library) and geometric changes to the public spaces. In L'Enfant's plan, the original design of what became known as
Dupont Circle was rectangular while
Logan Circle featured a triangular shape. In a last-ditch attempt, Washington sent his private secretary
Tobias Lear to stop L'Enfant from walking off the job, but to no success. After a brief exchange he told Lear that "that he had already heard enough of the matter," and presumably slammed the door in his face. Shortly thereafter, an incensed Washington dismissed L'Enfant due to insubordination. 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. Ellicott's brother Joseph later adopted the radial plan of Washington for Buffalo, New York. However, L'Enfant was not the only person to experience frustration overseeing the project. Ellicott complained to Washington on March 16, 1793, and expressed immense dissatisfaction at being rushed through his work. He left the project and the role of chief surveyor and planner fell to a succession of men:
Isaac Briggs,
Benjamin Ellicott and
Joseph Ellicott, Thomas Freeman, Nicholas King, Robert King Sr., and Nicholas King again. In 1802, Jefferson relieved the Commissioners of their duties and appointed three individuals to report directly to him on matters concerning the city's development: Thomas Munroe was appointed superintendent, Nicholas King assumed the role of surveyor for the federal city, and
Benjamin Latrobe was designated as surveyor of public buildings.
Later works 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. 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. In 1794, L'Enfant was placed in charge of
reconstructing Fort Mifflin on Mud Island in the
Delaware River below
Philadelphia. 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, acting secretary of war
James Monroe hired L'Enfant to oversee the design and reconstruction of
Fort Washington on the
Potomac River southeast of Washington, D.C., but others soon replaced him. Monroe urged L'Enfant to be more economical as project costs soared. Ultimately, L'Enfant left the project due to these financial issues. L'Enfant had no part in planning or platting
Perrysburg, Ohio, or
Indianapolis, Indiana, as has been claimed in Internet postings. Alexander Bourne, Joseph Wampler and William Brookfield surveyed and platted the future Perrysburg area in 1816.
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). ==Death==