New York Avenue is a diagonal avenue radiating northeast from the White House in Washington, D.C. to the border with Maryland. It is a major east–west route in the city's Northwest and Northeast quadrants and connects downtown with points east and north of the city via Cheverly, Maryland, the John Hanson Highway, the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, and eventually, Interstate 95. History New York Avenue was planned as one of the original streets in the L'Enfant Plan for Washington, D.C. It was intended to begin at the Potomac River and extend northeast toward the White House, then continue past the Executive Residence northeast to the boundary of the Federal City. The portion of the street southwest of the White House was to give the President of the United States an uninterrupted view of the river. Construction of the State, War, and Navy Building from 1871 to 1888 blocked this view, and it remains blocked to this day. Originally, it extended to the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory, but the construction of Rawlins Park in 1873 destroyed a block of New York Avenue between 18th and 19th Streets NW. Its consolidation with Triangle Park and three other "parklets" into a "Little Mall" (in apparent imitation of the nearby National Mall) in 1937 consumed another block between 20th and 21st Streets NW. Construction of the United States Department of War Building (now the Harry S Truman Building, housing the United States Department of State), and an associated park (since January 1959, known as Edward J. Kelly Park) from 1940 to 1941 destroyed the lower three blocks of New York Avenue. Construction of the Theodore Roosevelt Building (which now houses the United States Office of Personnel Management) in 1963 eliminated another block between 19th and 20th Streets NW. This left a single block of New York Avenue NW, between 17th and 18th Streets NW, southeast of the White House. New York Avenue northeast of the White House retains its uninterrupted character. It originally terminated at Boundary Avenue (now Florida Avenue NE, as all city streets did in the L'Enfant Plan. Extensive development occurred beyond Boundary Avenue from 1870 to 1900. Extension of New York Avenue to Bladensburg Road was considered as early as 1899. But no action was taken. The McMillan Plan, a master plan for the capital published in 1901, strongly endorsed extension of the street. But although many portions of the plan