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Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C. | 
 enlarge | Author: Scott W. Berg
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 245536
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0375422803
Dewey Decimal Number: 711.4092
EAN: 9780375422805
ASIN: 0375422803
Publication Date: February 13, 2007
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Product Description
Grand Avenues tells the riveting story of Pierre Charles L’Enfant and the creation of Washington D.C.--from the seeds of his inspiration to the fulfillment of his extraordinary vision.
L’Enfant’s story is one of consuming passion, high emotion, artistic genius, and human frailty. As a boy he studied drawing at the most prestigious art institute in the world. As a young man he left his home in Paris to volunteer in the army of the American colonies, where he served under George Washington. There he would also meet many of the people who would have a profound impact on his life, including Alexander Hamilton and James Monroe. And it was Washington himself who, in 1791, entrusted L’Enfant with the planning of the nation’s capital--and reluctantly allowed him to be dismissed from the project eleven months later. The plan for the city was published under another name, and for the remainder of his life L’Enfant fought for recognition of his achievement. But he would not live to see that day, and a century would pass before L’Enfant would be given credit for his brilliant design.
Scott W. Berg recounts this tale, richly evocative of time and place, with the narrative verve of a novel and with a cast of characters that ranges from Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers to the surveyor who took credit for L’Enfant’s plans, the assistant who spent a week in jail for his loyalty to L’Enfant, and the men who finally restored L’Enfant’s reputation at the beginning of the twentienth century.
Here is a fascinating, little-explored episode in American history: the story of a visionary artist and of the founding of the magnificent city that is his enduring legacy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 The Talent and Temperament of Pierre Charles L'Enfant April 6, 2008
This is an insightful book that sheds the spotlight on the planning of our infant nation's capitol city. The central planner in this was the French born Pierre Charles L'Enfant. Berg traces L'Enfant's early years in Paris, his artistic training there, to his joining in the American War for Independence, to his appointment as chief planner for the new federal capitol city on the Potomoc River.
I found the story of his background in France most interesting as we learn of L'Enfant's father's artistic employment in the service of King Louis XV (I believe), to various other aspects of French life at that time period. The son was groomed to follow in his father's footsteps until the war in America shifted Pierre Charles's plans.
Like many in this country, L'Enfant grew to admire George Washington, head of the Continental Army. Berg develops Washington as a sort of father figure to L'Enfant, if only in L'Enfant's mind. We learn of his war service and experiences and his acquaintences with other notables such as Baron Von Steuben and Alexander Hamilton. Through these acquaintences forged in the trials of war would L'Enfant find employment in various architectural and plannining projects after ther war.
The most notable of these assignments was his role as chief planner for a new federal city designated as City of Washington in the District of Columbia. Throughout this venture, Berg shows L'Enfant to be a visionary who envisioned this city to become what it is today. Another fascinating aside to this planning was L'Enfant's consideration of the concept of the national government and the role of the states. A good example of this was evidenced in his plan for diagonal avenues and squares to be named for the individual states.
Through his nearly year long employment in this role we learn of the roles played by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the city commissioners, and some of the wealthier land owners in the city L'Enfant would contend with. Through these interactions did problems emerge. L'Enfant seemed to be the type who wanted complete control over the project, making exception for his revered Washington's approbation. L'Enfant's personality traits could make him less than endearing to those he had to work with and would play a part in his removal as planner in 1792.
Many realized his talents, but his foibles were also in abundance. His removal left him embittered as he watched changes to his plans for the layout of the city and the removal of his name from these plans. These and other factors can be understood as causing a certain amount of wounded pride. What followed was a sad story of a man whose services to his adopted country had nevertheless rendered him in a state of near abject poverty. He became dependent on the care of others, some of whom would cause him grief, while others like the Digges family would show more solictude for this aging man.
It would be over a century before others would give credit to L'Enfant's work, certainly a deserved, if delayed reward. His body was even removed and brought to lay in state in the capitol building before being taken to Arlington Cemetery. There were several topics of interest brought to light in this book whether tied directly or indirectly to L'Enfant, such as the contoversy over how large and what type of city Washington should be. This can be juxtoposed against the competing ideologies of the adherents of Washington and those of Jefferson. Washington (and L'Enfant) having a more nationalistic view of America, while Jefferson and his adherents having a more limited vision of government. Jefferson did not envision a necessarily grand federal city.
I felt the reader didn't really get to know L'Enfant all that well in this book, for various reasons, but his vision for a grand federal city certainly did come to pass, if not in his lifetime, most certainly today.
An Earlier Gift From France July 3, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Most people today would not know of the controversy and opposition to the Statue of Liberty, and the efforts and struggles it took to make a suitable platform for it. Similarly, the full story of L'Enfant's contributions to the original design of Washington, DC, was lost for almost a century before being restored. The US Government was very small in 1791, when work was started on the new capital's design, and one of the more interesting aspects of this historical narrative is the small cast of characters involved. The focus of this book is on these various individuals and how they impacted the evolution of the capital over time. Not surprisingly, all of the human traits, good and bad, march through the story with what seems a preponderance of greed, selfishness and small mindedness. It is interesting that the individuals who restored L'Enfant's reputation and works, and were not from the capital city.
 American Child June 21, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Berg has written a fabulous book of popular history, full of intriguing anecdotes and fascinating glimpses of G. Washington, T. Jefferson, and J. Monroe, among others. Perhaps by favorite aspect of "Avenues" is the hissy-fit relationship between L'enfant (architect of DC) and Jefferson, a builder in his own right who despised L'enfant for his petulance, arrogance, and bullheadedness. (At least two of these qualities can be attributed to Jeff, as well.)
I've been visiting DC since I was a boy, but often, as children, we give little thought to something's creation. It just exists. But "Avenues" opens a window into the past that I'm still thinking about. In the beginning, there was L'enfant. Without him (and Rick Olmstead, who carried the torch), DC would be a drastically different city. Bravo to Scott Berg, and thank you!
"City of Magnificent Intentions": The Planning of the American Capitol May 29, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
GRAND AVENUES depicts the genius of Pierre Charles L'Enfant and his artistry in designing the capital city of the United States. Rich with biographical, political and historical detail, Scott W. Berg has included 25 black-and-white illustrations that will intrigue Washingtonians, city planners, history buffs and architects. In 1790, Thomas Jefferson commissioned L'Enfant to "provide aid in the form of drawings of the particular grounds most likely to be approved for the site of the federal towns and buildings."
Having served as a Continental Army officer under George Washington and designed Federal Hall in New York City, L'Enfant was immediately entranced with this project. Originally from Paris, he loved breathtaking views and a variety of buildings and space within a metropolitan city. "This first recorded evidence of L'Enfant's inclination toward city planning occurred in December, 1784, when he wrote at some length to George Washington outlining his scheme to establish a peacetime corps of engineers." Prior to his arrival in Washington, L'Enfant also worked on projects in Trenton, New Jersey, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Jefferson and L'Enfant held completely different viewpoints on the way that Washington, D.C. should be laid out. As L'Enfant continued to evaluate Jenkins Hill as the perfect location for a congressional building, he writes, "From these heights every grand building would rear with a majestic aspect of the country all around and might be advantageously seen from twenty miles off." L'Enfant was proposing that the District of Columbia be designed on an expanded scale, with vistas, rises and boulevards. One major problem arose when George Washington suggested selling lots in the best areas of D.C. as delineated by L'Enfant's plans.
"L'Enfant now was arguing for a fundamentally public city --- in opposition to the motivations behind almost every other American public city --- in opposition to the motivations behind almost every other American place --- and to that end he was committed to the development of the public areas before the sale of the private." One problem was that houses were erected that did not fit with the public buildings in close proximity. In one case, L'Enfant actually tore down the completed home of a very influential Washingtonian, who had built it too close to a major public office building.
L'Enfant had organized a plan to access the Potomac River, allowing materials and supplies to arrive swiftly by water to the construction sites. "Every step in L'Enfant's chronology of construction was destined to reduce waste and conserve time, materials, and money." He wrote a significant memo to Washington, requesting that the project be completed as quickly as possible, using a million dollars, and suggesting that the oversight committee of commissioners be eliminated. Unsuccessful in his attempts to drive the project to immediate action, L'Enfant failed. Subsequently, Jefferson heralded Andrew Ellicott and assisted him in preparing a drawing to replace L'Enfant's plans.
Pierre Charles L'Enfant died in debt, unpaid for his work on America's capital city. "It is sometimes called the City of Magnificent Distances, but it might with greater propriety be termed the City of Magnificent Intentions."
--- Reviewed by Marge Fletcher
Remembering a forgotten man May 12, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an interesing story of how the basic plan for Washington, D. C. was formed. Pierre L'Enfant, a major in the Revolutionary Army worked with George Washington himself in the original design. L'Enfant was the graduate of excellent design schools in Paris, and he had been trained by his father. He had to fight off the influence of Thomas Jefferson the opponent of Washington and Hamilton in this project. His tenure on the project was short. Politics and land speculation was what really drove the process, little changed from today. A brilliant and far-seeing man who after this brief tenure died pretty much alone and unheralded. His work and his place in history was resurected about 1900. A well written and interesting account that meshes well with other biographical works of the era.
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