Digital Repository

L'Enfant, Plan of the City of Washington, 1792

After Congress passed the Residence Act in July of 1790, establishing a permanent national capital on the Potomac River, President Washington appointed Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French architect and engineer who had served in the Continental Army, to design the new capital. L'Enfant's plan became the basis for the layout of Washington, D.C. as it is today.

Pierre L'Enfant, Plan of the City of Washington, printed by Thackara & Vallance, 1792. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress.