Peter and Frederick..

This article will appear in the December issue of The Capital Guide, the publication of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, D.C.

At first glance, Peter L’Enfant and Frederick Douglass seem unlikely companions—L’Enfant, a slightly built Frenchman whose vision resulted in the city of Washington, D.C. and Douglass, a powerful orator whose calls for the abolition of slavery gave rise to the Emancipation Proclamation and the modern Civil Rights movement. They stand, paired in the lobby at One Judiciary Square, as the District’s contribution to the National Statuary Hall collection in the U.S. Capitol. Visitors need not go through security; the statues are easily viewed from the entrance as well as from outside the building.

The two larger-than-life bronze statues, each seven feet tall and weighting close to 850 pounds, were commissioned in 2007 by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. An advisory commission of historians and art experts (50 prominent citizens nominated by public ballot) chose local sculptors Gordon Kray and Steven Weitzman to create the statues of L’Enfant and Douglass, respectively.


Each man is shown practicing his profession, tools at hand. L’Enfant stands atop Jenkins Hill, later to become Capital Hill, plans for the Federal City and a pair of dividers in his hands. Douglass, leonine head erect, is depicted giving his 1852 July 4th speech, considered by many historians to be his finest. Weitzman shows Douglass as both orator and writer—a copy of the North Star, Douglass’s abolitionist newspaper clutched in his right hand, his left gripping a lectern on which his pen and inkwell rest.


The Statuary Hall collection in the Capitol displays two statues of historical figures from each state, 100 in all. Since the District is not a state, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting delegate to Congress, proposed special legislation authorizing Douglass and L’Enfant to join the select group under the Rotunda. Representative Norton’s bill has been languishing in Committee since in 2005, but she plans on reintroducing the legislation in the near future. In the meantime, visitors may see the sculptures in their temporary home at 441 4th St., NW.