When the site for Washington D.C. was chosen to be the national capital of the United States, it was an undeveloped area. George Washington selected Pierre L'enfant to design the layout of the city. George Washington was the highest ranking member of the Masons at the time and the Masons were ardent students of ancient civilizations such as those of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. This is evidenced by many of the monuments in and around the city. It has also been suggested that the streets, the broad diagonal avenues, and the blocks and circles left open for monumental structures, incorporated geometric designs of Masonic relevance, as shown in the 1862 map of Washington D.C. pictured below.