12 Facts About L'Enfant Plaza

L'Enfant Plaza is a complex of four commercial buildings grouped around a large plaza in the Southwest section of Washington, D C, United States.

L'Enfant Plaza was part of the Southwest D C urban renewal project, one of the earliest urban renewal projects in the U S, and the first such in D C The rapid expansion of the population of Washington, D C, during World War II led to the extensive construction of suburban office buildings and housing tracts.

The area which became L'Enfant Plaza was primarily Victorian townhouses, although a shuttered slaughterhouse stood in the area.

The federal government, which was building the James V Forrestal Building at the northern end of L'Enfant promenade, was a year behind in its construction schedule by June 1967, causing the northern end of the promenade to remain incomplete.

The entrance inside L'Enfant Plaza, which connects with the "La Promenade" underground shopping mall, opened in October 1977.

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L'Enfant Plaza Promenade descends on either side of Banneker Overlook to form Banneker Circle SW.

L'Enfant Plaza originally housed an 822-seat motion picture theater, which suffered financial trouble, until it closed permanently in the 1980s.

The framework plan proposed covering over I-395 between Banneker Park and L'Enfant Plaza, covering over the CSX railway tracks, re-establishing Maryland Avenue SW between 12th and 7th Streets SW, and restoring the view of the U S Capitol building along Maryland Avenue SW.

L'Enfant Plaza was considered a masterpiece when it opened in 1968.

L'Enfant Plaza lauded the "marvelous" cruciform-and-globe light fixtures and the huge "dramatic" fountain.

The plaza today is lusterless and very nearly lifeless, and the 10th Street connector, renamed the L'Enfant Promenade, seems just another pretentious, failed dream.

L'Enfant Plaza noted that Pei himself fiercely fought construction of the Forrestal Building, knowing that it would severely compromise the Promenade's view of the National Mall.