as a planned city, washington was modeled in the baroque style and incorporated avenues radiating out from rectangles, providing room for open space and landscaping. at l'enfant's request, thomas jefferson provided plans of cities such as amsterdam, paris, frankfurt, karlsruhe and milan, which he had brought back from europe in 1788. his design also envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" approximately in length and wide in the area that is now the national mall. the city of washington was bounded to the north by boundary street (now florida avenue) at the base of the escarpment of the atlantic seaboard fall line, to the southeast by the anacostia river, to the southwest by the potomac river and to the west by rock creek.