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Similarities Between L'enfant's Urban Plan for Washington, DC, and The Case Study Similarities between L’Enfant’s Urban Plan for Washington, DC, and the Royal Site of Aranjuez, Spain C. San-Antonio-G´omez1; C. Velilla2; and F. Manzano-Agugliaro3 Abstract: The influence of Versailles on L’Enfant’s 1791 plan for the city of Washington, DC, is well known. Less well known are the surprising similarities between Washington and the forma urbis of the Royal Site of Aranjuez in Spain. For example, the cities share the same diagram of two large, rectangular spaces arranged in an L shape, at the extremes of which are located, analogously, the most emblematic buildings: The Capitol and the White House in one instance, and the Royal Palace and the Church of San Antonio in the other. There are also connections between some of the diagonal avenues; between the Plaza de las Doce Calles in Aranjuez and the 12 avenues radiating from the Capitol; and between the trident of Parterre Garden in Aranjuez and the trident formed in L’Enfant’s plan by Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Maryland Avenue SW, and Avenue H. Based on these facts, this paper investigates parallels that have hitherto been ignored. It is not possible to conclude, based on the currently available information, that L’Enfant was familiar with the plan for Aranjuez, which was sent in 1775 to the main European courts, where it is conserved in their libraries. A copy of the plan is also the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. There is evidence that L’Enfant’s father, and possibly he himself, saw it in Paris at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, at which L’Enfant was studying before his departure for the United States. He may also have seen it during a visit to Paris in 1783, when the creation of a new capital had been proposed and he was a candidate to plan it because of his relationship with George Washington. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson may have seen the plan during his time as ambassador in Paris, given that, in his own sketch for the new capital, he situated the White House and the Capitol in the same compositional relationship as L’Enfant did later. These similarities may also simply be coincidence; in any case, they invite questions. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000495. © 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers. Author keywords: Washington; Urban planning; Aranjuez; Domingo de Aguirre; L’Enfant. Introduction literature, Helfrich (2016) affirmed that “It is generally conceded that the plan for the national capital was conceived in the formal Studies related to urbanism or the process of urbanization are the manner of Le Nôtre, ::: in some details the plan of Versailles may major inputs to historical research on cities (Chen et al. 2017). The have influenced the design.” Reps (1992) did not limit the similar- history of urban planning is both the history of ideas about the city ities to the gardens of Versailles, but also considered the Tuileries and the regulatory practice of its construction and transformation and the present avenue of the Champs-Élysées, which was then a (Pipa et al. 2017), in which theoretical approaches and instruments track through the woods that ended at the roundabout which is now of action differ (Li et al. 2017). The modern city reflects the gran- the current Place de l’Etoile; in this regard, Berg (2008) found the deur of the state and the absolutist monarchies of the sixteenth and same similarities. However, in spite of this evidence, it does not seventeenth centuries, so all expenses at that time to beautify it appear in any document that L’Enfant claimed to have been in- were justified. At that time, public and administrative buildings spired himself by Versailles (National Register of Historic Places were of great importance and began to be points of reference for 2016). citizens. The main streets of cities were widened; groves, walks, Similarly, no document nor any of the literature claims similar- and great squares appeared; and attempts were made to order urban ities between Washington, DC and the Real Sitio de Aranjuez (the growth according to predefined regular figures. The exemplary Royal Site of Aranjuez) in Spain. However, these similarities can- model city is Versailles. not be overlooked. In a general view of L’Enfant’s plan, we focus ’ ’ The literature on the origins of L Enfant s plan for Washington, on the genesis of the design of the new capital, which merges an DC is very abundant. All the researchers agree on the similarities of orthogonal grid with diagonal avenues, following European ’ ’ L Enfant s design with Versailles. As an example of this extensive baroque models. The L composition of the White House and Cap- itol around the river deserves special comparison with Aranjuez Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro on 01/22/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved. 1Professor, Dept. of Cartographic Engineering, Geodesy and Photo- (Fig. 1). Therefore, this manuscript investigates the similarities, grammetry, Polytechnic Univ. of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain. hitherto unknown, between the L’Enfant plan for Washington, 2Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Cartographic Engineering, Geodesy and DC and the Real Sitio de Aranjuez. As a first hypothesis, we ask Photogrammetry, Polytechnic Univ. of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain. whether L’Enfant, in Paris, could have been familiar with the map 3 Professor, Dept. of Engineering, Univ. of Almería, Almería 04120, of the Real Sitio de Aranjuez by Domingo de Aguirre, who, like Spain (corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0085 L’Enfant, was a military engineer. As a second hypothesis, the -030X. Email: [email protected] question arises whether Jefferson, as ambassador in Paris (1784– Note. This manuscript was submitted on April 14, 2017; approved on August 2, 2018; published online on January 23, 2019. Discussion period 1789), could have had access to the Aranjuez plans. Finally, if these open until June 23, 2019; separate discussions must be submitted for in- hypotheses are possible, the similarities between both urban dividual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Urban Planning and designs must be determined to conclude whether it is possible to Development, © ASCE, ISSN 0733-9488. establish their analogy. © ASCE 05019001-1 J. Urban Plann. Dev. J. Urban Plann. Dev., 2019, 145(2): 05019001 Fig. 1. Aerial view of compounds of Royal Palace and Plaza de San Antonio de Aranjuez, with their two perpendicular axes added by authors. (Base image reprinted from Aranjuez 2017.) Historical Chronology of L’Enfant’s Plan for as an architect and a highly cultured man, would have been inter- Washington, DC versus Plan for Royal Site of ested in that information. In the draft that he drew for the new Aranjuez capital, the Capitol and White House appear located in the same relative positions as the Royal Palace and Church of San Antonio The first question was whether L’Enfant could have been familiar in Aranjuez, which is also the way L’Enfant situated them. All of with the map of Domingo de Aguirre. Through historical chronol- these factors are presented in chronological order in a chronogram ogy, the moments and circumstances that could determine whether (Fig. 2). he could have known of that plan are analyzed. This raises two The copy of the plans for Aranjuez that was sent to London is questions: where was the plan of Aranjuez, and where was L’Enfant conserved at the British Library (Aguirre 1775a), whereas the set at that time? that went to Paris is held at the National Library of France (BNF It must be determined whether L’Enfant, who enlisted in the 2016). As stated previously, they should have arrived in Paris Continental Army in 1777 (Berg 2008), could have seen the plans between 1775 and 1776, during which time L’Enfant was a student for the Royal Site of Aranjuez by the military engineer Domingo de at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (he left the Aguirre while he was in Paris. King Charles III of Spain ordered following year for America). He most likely would have been able that two copies of the plan be sent to all of the European courts to see the plan because, among other reasons, it was engraved by immediately after it was recorded. San-Antonio-G´omez (2015) the Carmona brothers, Manuel Salvador (1730–1807) and Juan cites the reference from the Palace Archive, Cª/14.268. In 1775, Antonio (1740–1805). Manuel Salvador, the best Spanish engraver 267 copies of the 16-page plan and the views of the Royal Site at the time, trained in Paris with famous engravers such as Nicolás Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro on 01/22/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved. were printed (Sancho 1991, p. 37). Hence, the plans would have Gabriel Dupuis. In 1759, he began as an assistant at the Académie arrived in Paris between 1775 and 1776, 1 year before L’Enfant Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and 2 years later he was named left the French capital city. Although it is not possible to prove that academic and engraver for the King of France. In 1762, he returned L’Enfant saw Domingo de Aguirre’s map, there is evidence sug- to Madrid, and in 1764, he was named academic in painting and gesting that he may have. Additionally, despite a lack of docu- engraving. In 1783, he was designated engraver for the royal mentary proof, one may ask whether Jefferson, during his stay as chamber of the King of Spain (Carrete Parrondo 1989; Gallego ambassador to Paris from 1784 to 1789, may have seen the royal 1999).
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