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The Price of Genius

by

Henry L. Carrigan, Jr.

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Anyone who has ever visited the National Mall in Washington, D.C. can attest to the magnificent beauty of the “grand avenue” that stretches between the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. The diagonal grid of streets in Washington can be confusing to visitors driving there, but their design directs visitors’ sights to the two buildings—the White House and the Capitol—that serve as the perfect geometric anchors of the city. Set atop a gently sloping hill at one end of the grandest avenue, the Capitol resembles the greatest achievements of republican Rome, and its setting reminds one of the streets and monuments of Paris. No wonder. The spectacular architectural wonders of modern-day Washington, D.C. grew from the vision and will of one man—a Parisian—Pierre Charles L’Enfant.

In Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C., a superb chronicle of L’Enfant’s life and work, acclaimed architectural journalist Scott W. Berg recreates the exciting world of a newly independent America striving to build its own memorable cities and institutions. Prior to Berg’s lively and widely praised historical biography, L’Enfant’s story had been a little known chapter in American history. Berg’s engaging portrait reveals to us for the first time the genius behind the streets and buildings of the nation’s capital. Using journals, letters, and other archival material, Berg brings to life not only L’Enfant and strong-willed desires to create a city for his patron, George Washington, and the difficulties he faced along the way but also the social history of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America.

On a rainy morning in early march 1791, L’Enfant rode out from Georgetown to survey a district of one hundred and six square miles along the Potomac River somewhere between the Eastern Branch and Conococheague Creek. Just eight months earlier, the Residence Act of 1790 set aside this land as the location of the new federal capital. By 1800, according to this act, no state would have any jurisdiction in this territory, and the transfer of the federal government from Philadelphia to this territory would be complete. Was it possible to accomplish such a feat in a short ten years? George Washington and others agreed that if anyone could undertake and complete such a task, it would be Pierre Charles L’Enfant.

Born in Paris in 1754, L’Enfant was the third child of Pierre L’Enfant, a well-known and well-respected painter in the service of the king descended from a line of artists with royal patronages. The elder L’Enfant so excelled in his training at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture that he was eventually awarded with a faculty post there. He gained fame primarily as a painter of battleground panoramas, urban landscape, and city sketches.

L’Enfant’s skills quickly drew the attention of his superiors. At Valley Forge, Baron von Steuben recognized L’Enfant’s artistic talents, asking him to illustrate a field manual. His work with Steuben eventually catapulted him into a new position, and he found himself invited to perform numerous artistic tasks for a variety of patrons. The first French minister to America, Chevalier Anne-César de la Luzerne, invited him to design an elaborate setting for an international celebration of the victory at Yorktown. Later, Steuben asked him to design a badge, a medal, and a certificate of membership for the newly formed Society of the Cincinnati. This society embraced L’Enfant and recognized his talent, satisfying momentarily, at least, his continuing thirst for recognition of his talents and work.

In 1784, L’Enfant caught George Washington’s attention when he suggested a peacetime corps of engineers (the foundation of the later Army Corps of Engineers). He maintained his relationship with Washington through correspondence, and five years later Washington would ask L’Enfant to submit designs for the land set aside by the Residence Act to be the new federal capital. Although L’Enfant didn’t know that Washington had also asked Thomas Jefferson for similar sets of design plans—a situation that would cause not only jealousy and mistrust but eventually result in L’Enfant’s plans being co-opted by one of Jefferson’s friends—L’Enfant launched himself into the work of designing the new territory and completed his plans in three months.

In 1791, L’Enfant set out on what would be his grandest accomplishment: to design the new national capital. That rainy morning in Georgetown was only the beginning of his work. He set out later with surveyors and others who would help him clear the territory and begin to divide it into the city it would become. The President approved L’Enfant’s design for the city: a grid overlaid with a system of public squares linked by radiating diagonal avenues; the house of the President and the building occupied by Congress would sit on the two highest points in the territory, providing anchors on the city’s map. L’Enfant’s plan encountered a variety of challenges, including the encroachment on private property and the rush to sell lots that would result in a shortfall of money for the project. Although L’Enfant warned businessmen that the rush to sell lots might fail, they ignored his advice and reaped the results, slowing the process of building the city. L’Enfant also jeopardized his own project through his strong will and his desire for recognition, angering not only Jefferson but eventually Washington, who relieved L’Enfant of his job.

Berg’s lively tale does not end with L’Enfant’s death, however. In the nineteenth century, Rick Olmstead, the son of Frederick Law Olmstead, restored L’Enfant’s plans—and resurrecting L’Enfant at several architectural meetings as the real designer of Washington, D.C.—as he designed a plan for the public buildings of Washington. Olmstead and others restored L’Enfant to his rightful place as the visionary who created the new capital.

Berg’s dynamic and energetic prose offers a compelling tale of an architectural genius who sometimes was his own worst enemy. His overarching thirst for recognition sometimes blinded him to the political realities around him, and he often alienated the people whose recognition he most sought. Berg’s magnificent historical biography introduces a range of characters whose avarice and political ambition often clouded their responsibilities to the emerging nation. In the end, Washington, D.C. became the new seat of federal government because it was so close to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, and L’Enfant’s plans were temporarily abandoned and then revised to suit the needs of a new political administration. Deftly guiding readers on a journey through the ups and downs of L’Enfant’s life and the political intrigues of the time, Berg offers insightful glimpses into a chapter of American history that has long been lost.


Henry Carrigan dreamed of being a rock ‘n roll star with a life of coast-to-coast tours and wild parties with Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell among others. But books intervened, and instead he went to Emory University to major in Religion and Literature. Later, teaching humanities in college, he took up writing about books—this time to avoid reading students’ papers. Henry soon became Library Journal's religion columnist, then religion book editor for Publishers Weekly. While working as editor-in-chief for Northwestern University Press and editing classic books for Paraclete Press, he still continues to write for LJ and PW, as well as the Washington Post Book World, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Charlotte Observer, ForeWord magazine—and now, BiblioBuffet. And he still enjoys playing his guitar. Contact Henry.

 

 

 
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