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Home > Museum Shop > Books & Media > Grand Avenues
  Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.
By Scott W. Berg
Price: $15.95
In 1791, shortly after the United States won its independence, George Washington personally asked Pierre Charles L'Enfant—a young French artisan turned American revolutionary soldier who gained many friends among the Founding Fathers—to design the new nation's capital. L'Enfant approached this task with unparalleled vigor and passion; however, his imperious and unyielding nature also made him many powerful enemies. After eleven months, Washington reluctantly dismissed L'Enfant from the project. Subsequently, the plan for the city was published under another name, and L'Enfant died long before it was rightfully attributed to him.
Filled with incredible characters and passionate human drama, Scott W. Berg's deft narrative account of this little-explored story in American history is a tribute to the genius of Pierre Charles L'Enfant and the enduring city that is his legacy.
352 pages, softcover, ISBN 9781400076222, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2008.
What's related:
• Watch Dr. Berg's Banner Lecture online!
• Learn more about art and architecture in Virginia
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