The Washington Monument was constructed between 1815 and 1829 as the nation's first formal tribute to the leader of the United States. Following the custom of the day, its design was chosen in a competition and the cost was defrayed by a public lottery. Robert Mills's winning design was modified to the present simple column. The monument had originally been planned to rise from what is now the site of the Battle Monument, but cautious city fathers, fearing for their real estate should it topple over, urged a more countrified setting. John Eager Howard obliged by donating land from his vast estate, Belvidere. Enrico Causici created the statue of Washington resigning his Army commission. The four squares radiating from the monument were given to the city by Howard's heirs, and, embellished by fountains and statuary by Antoine Louis Barye, Mount Vernon Place has been cited by architectural historians as one of the country's finest formal city squares.
