L’Enfant the Destroyer
14 12 2007The area around 9th and D street has been called L’Enfant Plaza for a long time, but it wasn’t always that way. Back in the 1920’s the street grid was still intact and there were no massive highways dissecting the neighborhood! Now the area is made up of a group of decidedly non-pedestrian friendly government buildings and the plaza.
It’s interesting that the very street grid system L’Enfant designed is destroyed by the Plaza of his own name. Can’t imagine that Mr. L’Enfant would be too happy about that!
Unfortunately, the city has reached a point where restoring some of the lost street grid to its originally layout is practically infeasible. Though it is nice that some of the larger projects in the area, such as the new Convention Center have been able to maintain street-blocks. What do you think? Street grids worth preservation?
Yes - they are hugely worth preservation. Can we please tear down Everything in L’Enfent Plaza and start over? thanks. What a mess.
Constantly, I am amazed at the links between Washington and Paris. As much as I love you Metrocentric, you made one fallacy in stating that DC once follow L’Enfant’s plan. It never did. Though Pres. Washington would have been happy to enacted it, Jefferson deplored the idea of any non-Roman grid. (Ironically Jefferson hated cities but love baroque-grid-Paris, but that’s another story). As a result the two were merged and created the “original” layout of DC. However, it took an Haussmann to make Paris the Paris we know today.
Ironically for DC, a city meant to very much mimic Paris in design and unintentionally in geographic size and building height, I think it has had one Haussmann and will require another. The first implemented the retched Beltway system Washingtonians value far too much. Yet this Beltway enabled Washington to grow faster than it might have otherwise. Another Haussmann is needed.
Washington is in need, and poised to receive, a new Haussman. One who will restore the grid and make DC a city of beauty, not one of bland buildings that use poorly their space in the urban landscape. Hopefully one day this city will be so empowered to hire one.
Wills,
So we are not sure where you got your information, but the street grid you find in DC is in fact due to L’Enfant.
The plan of the city of Washington was designed in 1791 by Pierre L’Enfant, and mapped the following year; a design which remains largely in place. For nearly a century, the realization of physical changes to the original plan were gradual until the second important benchmark in the development of Washington’s urban plan: the McMillan Commission and its 1901-02 recommendations. The McMillan Commission plans were implemented predominantly during the first three decades of the 20th century, and continued sporadically thereafter.
Source: nps.gov
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/lenfant.htm
I’m completely of the opposite mind.
I’ve always thought the DC street layout, with all those diagonal streets, was insane. I find it far easier to get around at street level in every other big city I’ve driven in except Boston.
And, the freeway may be ugly compared to surface streets, and be crowded, but how much longer would it take you to get any real distance without it?
From a driving perspective, I love the street plan. Every out-of-towner I know complains about it, but I think it works really well once you learn it. What I always tell them is this: the letter/number streets are just fine for getting around; use them until you know the city a little bit and you’re not getting lost. Then when you’re ready, learn the avenues (states). They’re the shortcut streets. Going from Shaw to Georgetown, I can take K all the way if I didn’t know better and get there just fine. Or I can take Mass Ave to Scott Circle to Rhode Island Ave to M, and get there in 2/3 the time.
The only time navigating gets weird is when DC has F’ed with the L’Enfant plan, e.g., superblocks one-ways, and barriers near federal buildings.
That’s all from a driving perspective. From a walking perspective, I HATE the wide avenues in the street plan. I never feel safe crossing those streets, and judging by all the recent pedestrian fatalities, its more than a feeling…being a pedestrian in DC is dangerous. Wide avenues encourage freeway speed driving and make drivers feel like they own the streets. Hopefully this will change soon with DC’s new pedestrian plan. I’d like to see some traffic calming measures and road “diets”.
My girlfriend and I have both witnessed pedestrians fighting back recently, yelling at drivers that keep inching up into a busy crosswalk, trying to “nudge” through. Some even pound on the car hoods in anger. I think its an encouraging sign that pedestrians are taking back the streets. If this is ever going to truly be a world class city, it needs to be safe to walk in.
hey, jon (from va, obviously)
try NOT driving, and give the public transport system a shot, or WOW, try walking.
all cities suck when you have to drive through them, particularly when you have a bunch of suburbanites and tourists trying to drive through this old town like it’s their little burb layout.
get with the program. or just stay home in your little cookie cutter hood near wall mart and home depot.
this dc resident would thank you for that.
really. i’m tired of outsiders screwing up traffic in my town, washington dc.
just my opinion.
cheers!
poo poo