Existing comment:
A Description of the Situation and Plan of the City of Washington, Now Building for the Metropolis of America, and Established as the Permanent Residence of Congress after the Year 1800
George Walker, 1793
Published in London to promote the sale of Federal City lots in Europe, George Walker's 1793 description of L'Enfant's plan is the most detailed that survives.
Walker, a Georgetown merchant, deserves credit as the father of Washington City. He first proposed the site, and the means of finance the construction of a city upon it, in a January 1789 newspaper article. He signed it with the pseudonym "A Citizen of the World," suggesting that he was a detached observer. He convinced L'Enfant to support the large site when the planner arrived at Georgetown in March 1791. L'Enfant then persuaded Washington, who had envisioned a much smaller city adjacent to Georgetown or the Anacostia River. |