Lafayette Square

Stop on Washington DC National Mall Walking Tour, a free self-guided tour.

Lafayette Square, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the north side of the White House, was part of the original President's Park. It was named in 1824 for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French officer who served with Washington in the Revolution.

The statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback in the center, by Clark Mills, was unveiled in 1853. It was the first equestrian statue cast in the United States, and the horse is balanced on its hind legs. The four corners hold statues of foreign officers who helped win the Revolution: Lafayette and Rochambeau of France, Tadeusz Kosciuszko of Poland, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben of Prussia.

The square has its share of scandal. In 1859, Congressman Daniel Sickles shot and killed Philip Barton Key, son of the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, here after learning Key was having an affair with his wife. Sickles was acquitted in one of the first uses of temporary insanity as a defense in the United States.

Facing the square are Decatur House, built in 1818 and now run by the White House Historical Association, and St. John's Church, where every president since James Madison has worshiped at least once. The square is a traditional site for protests and sometimes closes for security.