Lego the white house - 21006 Instruction Manual

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As described above, the pattern of radiating 
avenues was joined and fi lled by a gridiron matrix 
of streets, which were numbered to the east 
and west and lettered to the north and south – 
excluding J Street, which L’Enfant omitted to avoid
confusion with the letters I and J that were indistinguishable
and often interchangeable at the time, according to a 
1994 Washington Post Magazine article.
 
Although L’Enfant’s design became the basis for land 
sales, construction and planning, President Washington
fi red him a year after he was hired because L’Enfant 
“forged ahead regardless of his orders, the budget, or 
landowners with prior claims”. 
The design competition
In 1792, at Washington’s request, Secretary of State Thomas
Jeff erson announced an architectural competition to 
produce design drawings for the President’s House. 
Washington insisted that the building should be made of 
stone, so that it would have a more substantial appearance, 
much like the most important buildings in Europe. The 
young nation had never seen anything like it, and that was 
what Washington liked about it. The building was to be 
more than the home and offi
  ce of the president; it was to 
be a symbol of the presidency. A republic could not have 
a king’s palace, but the building must command respect 
from citizens in the United States and, just as importantly, 
foreign visitors who came to visit America’s leader.
 
On July 16, 1792, President Washington examined
at least six designs submitted in the President’s House
architectural competition. The plans were quite varied.
One of the designs was by James Hoban, an Irishman
whom the president had met a year earlier in Charleston. A 
second plan was submitted by a mysterious man known 
only as “A.Z.”. Historians have speculated that Thomas 
Jeff erson was the mystery designer, but records suggest
that the architect in question was more likely John Collins,
a builder from Richmond, Virginia. A third of the six 
designs is by James Dimond, a Maryland inventor.
 
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