• Plan of the City of Washington
    Pierre Charles L'Enfant
    map
    Washington, D.C.
    This map is the first printed edition of the plan of Washington designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant. Andrew Ellicott created the engraved plate for the map with revisions for publication by mapmakers Thackara and Vallance of Philadelphia. President George Washington asked French-born architect L'Enfant to design the new capital. He developed plans for the city, but his refusal to cooperate with the president’s commissioners led to his dismissal in February 1792. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia began implementation of the plan under the direction of Ellicott. Renewed interest in beautifying the nation's capital in the early 20th century, however, led to the revival of L'Enfant's vision, especially his plan for creating cardinal features in the city with the Capitol and White House connected by "by a grand avenue four hundred feet in breadth, and about a mile in length, bordered by gardens, ending in a slope from the houses on each side." This vista was the inspiration for the 1902 McMillan Plan's park-like means of communication between the legislative and the executive branches which became the National Mall.