Pierre Charles L'Enfant

Lore & Background

L'Enfant was born on August 2, 1754, in the Gobelins section of Paris, France, the third child and second son of painter Pierre L'Enfant and Marie Charlotte Leullier. He studied at the Royal Academy from 1771 until 1776, with his father being one of his instructors. Recruited by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to serve in the American Revolutionary War, he arrived in 1777 at age 23 and served as a military engineer with Major General Lafayette. Commissioned as a captain in the Corps of Engineers on April 3, 1779, to rank from February 18, 1778, he was wounded at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779, and became a prisoner of war at the surrender of Charleston on May 12, 1780. After the war, he settled in New York City and redesigned City Hall for the First Congress of the United States. He also designed the eagle-shaped badge of the Society of the Cincinnati and was initiated into Freemasonry on April 17, 1789, at Holland Lodge No. 8.

Reader's Guide

L'Enfant's most significant contribution is his 1791 plan for Washington, D.C., a baroque-styled layout that inspired the development of other major world capitals such as Brasília, New Delhi, and Canberra. In the U.S., his plan influenced the design of Detroit, Indianapolis, and Sacramento. During the American Revolution, he made pencil portraits of George Washington and other Continental Army officers, and painted at least two panoramas of encampments in 1782, including one of Washington's tent at Verplanck's Point—believed to be 'the only known wartime depiction of Washington’s tent by an eyewitness.' He also drafted eight illustrations for General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's 'Blue Book,' for which Congress awarded him $500 and a promotion to captain of engineers. L'Enfant was promoted by brevet to Major on May 2, 1783, and received 300 acres of land in present-day Ohio, though he never set foot on it.

Did You Know?

• L'Enfant changed his first name from Pierre to Peter when he first came to the rebelling British Thirteen Colonies in 1777.
• He was wounded at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779, and later became a prisoner of war at the surrender of Charleston on May 12, 1780.
• L'Enfant designed the eagle-shaped badge of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of former Continental Army officers of which he was a founder.
• He was initiated into Freemasonry on April 17, 1789, at Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York City, but only took the first of three degrees.
• L'Enfant received 300 acres of land in present-day Ohio from the United States for his Revolutionary War service, but never set foot on or resided in the granted land.