Who was the architect that designed the plans for Washington D.C.?

Pierre "Peter" Charles L'Enfant (August 2, 1754 – June 14, 1825) was a French-born American architect and civil engineer best known for designing the layout of the streets of Washington, D.C. (the L'Enfant Plan). Specifically, the L'Enfant Plan for the city of Washington was an urban plan developed in 1791 by Major L'Enfant for George Washington, the first President of the United States.

Today, Washington, D.C. owes much of its unique design to Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who came to America from France to fight in the Revolutionary War. In America, he rose from obscurity to become a trusted city planner for George Washington. L'Enfant designed the city from scratch, envisioning a grand capital of wide avenues, public squares and inspiring buildings in what was then a district of hills, forests, marshes and plantations.

The centerpiece of L'Enfant's plan was a great "public walk." Today's National Mall is a wide, straight strip of grass and trees that stretches for two miles, from Capitol Hill to the Potomac River. Smithsonian museums flank both sides and war memorials are embedded among the famous monuments to Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson.