Which beautiful American city was laid out around 1800 by Pierre L'Enfant?

In the 1790s, President George Washington commissioned the French-American military engineer and artist Pierre Charles L'Enfant to design a grand new capital city for the young nation. L'Enfant envisioned a city that would be both beautiful and symbolic, a departure from the simple grid layouts common in other American cities at the time. His ambitious plan, developed on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia, became the foundational blueprint for the federal district.

Drawing inspiration from the baroque gardens of Versailles and the city plans of Paris, L'Enfant's design was a masterpiece of urban planning. He created a grid of streets intersected by wide, diagonal avenues named for the states of the union. These avenues were strategically placed to create dramatic vistas and connect important federal sites, with the Capitol Building and the President's House (now the White House) serving as the city's primary focal points. This layout is responsible for the city's many traffic circles, public squares, and monumental views.

Although L'Enfant's difficult temperament led to his dismissal from the project before the city's completion, his core vision was preserved and implemented by surveyors Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker. Today, the capital's unique and elegant layout stands as a lasting testament to L'Enfant's original, brilliant design.