The City was planned and partly laid out by Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer and then completed by Ellicott Benjamin Banneker, a free born black man who also was an astronomer and mathematician.

Both the war of 1812 and The Civil War took their toll on Washington, DC which required serious repair and restoration by 1814. The Presidential Mansion was destroyed and then rebuilt – the new design was named 'The White House' for the colour of the exterior walls, and today is one of the best known mansions throughout the world.