Lot 16, square 634 was on the west side of North Capitol Street between B and C streets, about the middle of the block. GW was to pay $535.71 for it in three annual installments, the first of which was paid in 1798. The construction of a double town house on the lot, which GW hoped would “promote the necessary improvements in the City,” was begun that fall (GW to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, 27 Oct. 1798, DLC:GW; Fitzpatrick, Diaries description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed. The Diaries of George Washington, 1748–1799. 4 vols. Boston and New York, 1925. description ends , 4:284).