1. DC, Washington: Southwest 19th c

Washington D.C., since its founding in 1790 and through the 19th century, had been at a constant state of designing its identity. At the beginning of the 19th century, as classical models of government were heavily influential in the creation of America, Neoclassical ideals saturated the planning of District of Columbia. Public buildings staged national competitions to draw Avant Garde architects of high statutes to participate and submit neoclassical designs. However, District of Columbia's seat at the line of the South and North's division at the brink of the Civil War made it a destination for freed slaves, industrial workers, and self-made entrepreneurs with the help of the railroads. With them came new tastes, cultures, and professions. Apparent in D.C. was the conflict of its self-identity as a district.