Who designed the original plan for Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital established in 1790?

Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed the original plan for Washington, D.C. President George Washington selected the French-born military engineer in 1791 to create a plan for the new federal capital.

L’Enfant’s design used broad avenues radiating from important locations and intersecting a grid of streets. The layout included prominent spaces for major public buildings and produced the diagonal avenues that remain characteristic of Washington today. The city was built in a district created along the Potomac River from land ceded by Maryland and Virginia.

L’Enfant’s relationship with government officials deteriorated, and he was dismissed before the capital was completed. Andrew Ellicott later surveyed and revised the plan. Benjamin Banneker, a free Black mathematician and surveyor, helped Ellicott with the initial survey of the District of Columbia, but he did not design the original city plan.

The capital’s name honors George Washington, while the federal district was named Columbia. Washington, D.C. became the seat of the federal government in 1800.