THE CITY OF WASHINGTON. 



157 



5. That the space between Pennsylvania avenue and the Mall 

 should be occupied by the District building, the Hall of Records, a 

 modern market, an armory for the District militia, and structures of 

 like character. 



The city of Washington, during the century since its foundation, 

 has been developed in the main according to the plan made in 1791 

 by Major Peter Charles L 'Enfant and approved by President Wash- 

 ington. That plan the commission has aimed to restore, develop and 

 supplement. 



The 'Congress house' and the 'President's palace,' as he termed 

 them, were the cardinal features of L 'Enfant 's plan; and these edifices 

 he connected 'by a grand avenue four hundred feet in breadth, and 



Anacostia Marshes from Benning Bridge, showing Malarial Flats to be excavated 



about a mile in length, bordered by gardens, ending in a slope from 

 the houses on each side.' At the point of intersection of two lines, 

 one drawn through the center of the Capitol, the other drawn through 

 the center of the White House, L 'Enfant fixed the site of an eques- 

 trian statue of General AVashington, one of the numerous statues voted 

 by the Continental Congress but never erected. 



When, in 1848, the people began to build the Washington Monu- 

 ment, the engineers despaired of securing on the proper site a founda- 

 tion sufficient for so great a structure; and consequently the Monu- 

 ment was located out of all relations with the buildings which it was 

 intended to tie together in a single composition. To create these rela- 



