Pierre Charles L'Enfant (1754-1825), French-born American architect, designed the plan on which Washington, D.C., was built.

The philosophical ideals of 18th-century France gave the American Revolution its ideological character. When the new republic was created, artists were called upon to symbolize and incorporate these ideals in official arts commissions. The work of Pierre Charles L'Enfant is the architectural expression of those ideological convictions.

L'Enfant was born in Paris. He studied painting under his father at the Royal Academy in Paris and later trained as an engineer. In 1777, during the American Revolution, he joined the American army as a volunteer and rose to the rank of major of engineers. After the war he gained George Washington's admiration by designing an eagle insignia for the Society of the Cincinnati.

In 1788 L'Enfant was commissioned to redesign the New York City Hall into an appropriate seat for the new Federal government...