The Best-Laid Plans

Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, designer of the District of Columbia, was born in Paris on this day in 1754.

Gaze around the capital city with this photograph by Mark Klett. To pan across this Washington vista using QuickTime, visit our online exhibition, Panoramas: the North American Landscape in Art.

Do you think L'Enfant would be proud of his creation?

Pierre L'Enfant trained as an engineer, then came to North America and volunteered in George Washington's army during the Revolutionary War.

When the District of Columbia was chosen as the site of the federal government, President Washington commissioned L'Enfant to design the city. After drafting a plan in 1791, L'Enfant was dismissed the following year and, sadly, did not see his plan enacted before his 1825 death. In 1901, L'Enfant's plans were retrieved from the archives and ultimately formed the basis for the city's layout.

Pictured: Mark Klett, born 1952, Panorama of Washington, D.C. from the Nancy Hanks Tower, September 1 to April 1993, 1992–1993, EverColor prints, each: 29 1/4 x 23 7/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.