Pierre L'Enfant's plan for Washington had included…

Pierre L'Enfant's plan for Washington had included a monumental structure at a site halfway between the Capitol and the President's House.

L'Enfant had envisaged a "church of the Republic", which he later modified to a Pantheon devoted to great Americans.

On this site, construction begins on the Patent Office Building, designed in the Greek Revival style by architect Robert Mills; the massive structure, which is to cover an entire city block, will take thirty-one years to complete.

Mills describes the proportions of the Greek Revival central portico as "exactly those of the Parthenon of Athens", a departure in the capital city, where previously ambitious public buildings had been based on Roman and Renaissance precedents.

Fireproofing the design is an essential concern: Mills will span the interior spaces with masonry vaulting without the use of wooden beams.

Skylights and interior light courts are to fill the spaces with daylight.