Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.

Lafayette Square
Aerial view of Lafayette Square (foreground).
Location within Washington, D.C.
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′58″N 77°02′12″W / 38.899508°N 77.036558°W / 38.899508; -77.036558Coordinates: 38°53′58″N 77°02′12″W / 38.899508°N 77.036558°W / 38.899508; -77.036558
Area	7 acres (2.8 ha)

Lafayette Square is a seven-acre (30,000 m²) public park located within President's Park, Washington, D.C. directly north of the White House on H Street, bounded by Jackson Place on the west, Madison Place on the east, and Pennsylvania Avenue. It is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution, and includes a prominent statue of early 19th century President and general Andrew Jackson on horseback. The square and the surrounding structures were designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1970.

History

Statue of the Marquis de Lafayette by Alexandre Falguière and Antonin Mercié, 1891.

Planned as part of the pleasure grounds surrounding the Executive Mansion, this square was originally called "President's Park", which is now the name of the larger National Park Service unit which includes the White House Lawn. In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson had Pennsylvania Avenue cut through that park, separating what would become Lafayette Square from the White House grounds. In 1824, the park was officially renamed in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French military leader whose involvement was crucial in securing victory in the American Revolutionary War.

Lafayette Square has been used as a racetrack, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations. In 1851, Andrew Jackson Downing landscaped Lafayette Square in the picturesque style. On February 27, 1859 Representative Daniel Sickles killed Philip Barton Key II in Lafayette Square. Key had come to the park for an assignation with Sickles' wife, only to be discovered and killed by the congressman.^[1]

The Andrew Jackson Memorial and statue (pictured here circa 1900), was erected in Lafayette Park in 1853

Today's plan, with its five large statues, dates from the 1930s. In the center stands Clark Mills' equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson, erected in 1853. In the four corners are statues of foreign Revolutionary War heroes: Major General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette^[2] and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau of France, Brigadier General Thaddeus Kosciuszko of Poland, and Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben of Prussia.

Thomas and Concepcion Picciotto are founders of the White House Peace Vigil, the longest running anti-nuclear peace vigil in US history, at Lafayette Square.^[3]^[4]

References

↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2015/05/15/a-few-bad-days-in-washington-d-c-history/
↑ "Major General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette, (sculpture)". Inventory of American Sculpture, Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Smithsonian American Art Museum. IAS DC000217.
↑ The Oracles of Pennsylvania Avenue
↑ Colman McCarthy (February 8, 2009). "From Lafayette Square Lookout, He Made His War Protest Permanent". The Washington Post.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C..

White House Complex

White House

Executive
Residence

Basement	Basement Chief Floral Designer
Ground floor	China Room collection Office of the Curator Diplomatic Reception Room Library Map Room Vermeil Room
State floor	Blue Room Cross Hall East Room Entrance Hall Family Dining Room Grand Staircase Green Room Red Room South Portico State Dining Room Chief Usher
Second floor	Center Hall Dressing Room East Bedroom East Sitting Hall Family Kitchen Lincoln Bedroom Lincoln Sitting Room President's Bedroom President's Dining Room Private Sitting Room Queens' Bedroom Queens' Sitting Room Treaty Room Truman Balcony West Bedroom West Sitting Hall Yellow Oval Room
Third floor	Center Hall Diet Kitchen Linen Room Music Room Sun Room Work-out Room

West Wing

East Wing

Grounds

Annex

Nearby
streets

Landmarks of Washington, D.C.
Memorials	Adams African American Civil War American Veterans Disabled for Life Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument Mary McLeod Bethune Boy Scout James Buchanan D.C. War Albert Einstein Emancipation John Ericsson First Division James A. Garfield Samuel Gompers Ulysses S. Grant Holocaust Museum Holodomor Genocide Japanese American Patriotism During World War II Jefferson Memorial Lyndon Baines Johnson Grove John Paul Jones Marquis de Lafayette Law Enforcement Officers Lincoln Memorial Martin Luther King, Jr. Korean War Veterans George Mason George Meade National Statuary Hall Collection Navy – Merchant Marine Nuns of the Battlefield Peace Monument Pentagon Second Division Signers of the Declaration of Independence The Extra Mile The Three Soldiers Jean de Rochambeau Franklin Delano Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Island Taras Shevchenko Oscar Straus Robert A. Taft Titanic United States Air Force United States Navy Victims of Communism Vietnam Veterans Vietnam Women's Washington Monument Daniel Webster World War II Rainbow Pool
Other	Capitol Reflecting Pool Immaculate Conception Basilica Healy Hall Islamic Center Jefferson Pier John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Library of Congress National Arboretum National Building Museum National Gallery of Art Lincoln's Cottage at Soldiers' Home Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool National Archives Newseum National Cathedral National Mall Old Post Office Pavilion Old Stone House Smithsonian Institution The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace Tidal Basin Treasury Building Tudor Place Union Station United States Capitol United States Supreme Court Building White House Willard Hotel
Parks and plazas	Constitution Gardens Dupont Circle East Potomac Park Freedom Plaza Lafayette Square L'Enfant Plaza Meridian Hill Park National Arboretum Pershing Park Rock Creek Park The Ellipse United States Botanic Garden West Potomac Park
Boundaries	Anacostia River Arlington Memorial Bridge Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Constitution Avenue Francis Scott Key Bridge Pennsylvania Avenue Potomac River Zero Milestone
Planned	Adams Memorial Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial General Francis Marion Memorial Gold Star Mothers Monument National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial National Liberty Memorial Peace Corps Monument World War I
Related	National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C. National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
Public art in Washington, D.C. (Outdoor sculpture, American Revolution Statuary, Civil War Monuments, commemorating African-Americans)

Streets of Washington, D.C.
Numbered Streets	7th Street 14th Street 16th Street 18th Street
Lettered Streets	H Street K Street M Street P Street U Street
State-named roadways	Connecticut Florida Georgia Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire New York Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia Wisconsin
Border avenues and streets	Capitol Streets North East South Border Avenues Western Eastern Southern Mall Boundaries Constitution Independence
Other streets	Benning Columbia East Executive Avenue Embassy Row Jackson Klingle MacArthur Madison Martin Luther King Jr. West Executive Avenue
Circles	Anna J. Cooper Barney Benjamin Banneker Chevy Chase Columbus Dupont Garfield Grant Lincoln Memorial Logan Observatory Peace Pinehurst Randle Scott Sheridan Sherman Tenley Thomas Ward Washington Westmoreland
Squares	Farragut Franklin Freedom Lafayette Lincoln McPherson Mount Vernon Seward Stanton Union
Parkways	Clara Barton George Washington Memorial Oxon Run Rock Creek & Potomac Suitland
Expressways	9th Street 12th Street Anacostia Center Leg E Street Kenilworth Avenue Potomac River Southeast Southwest

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