Existing comment:
L'Enfant's "Grand" Vision
1791-1792
While Andrew Ellicott's team of surveyors was establishing the boundaries of the Territory of Columbia, Pierre Charles L'Enfant was planning "Washington City" at its core.
With the insights of Thomas Jefferson, L'Enfant painted his plan on the District's canvas of farmland, pastures and forest.
If you were standing here in 1791, you could be shin-deep in river water, as this spot was located on the edge of Tiber Creek, which often overflowed its banks.
Though Tiber Creek was canalized in 1810 and covered by Constitution Avenue (B Street) in the 1870s, this building's wooden pilings, used because of the site's high water table, are a testament to the creek's continuing influence. |