Created as a Federal City over two centuries ago, Washington, D.C., was designed by architect Pierre L'Enfant on land purchased by the government from Maryland and Virginia. L'Enfant's vision of wide, tree-lined avenues, mixed with modifications by the McMillan Commission in the early 1900s and exemplified by many other architects and sculptors, has evolved into a unique, fast-paced, and politically focused Capital City of the United States of America.