The square was placed in El Paraíso urbanization in 1921, to mark the 19 de Abril centennial. Enrique Bernardo Núñez, chronicler of Caracas, pointed out in his article «The City of Red Roofs», that, during its opening at its new location, «the statue of Bolívar was unveiled on the same day in Central Park, New York». The plaza has a triangular layout, whose spatial distribution is the result of an intervention in the 40s by architect Tomás Sanabria, at which time he was studying civil engineering. It was later modified in the 50s, when the sculpture known today as «la India de El Paraíso» was integrated into the plaza, and later moved to its current location. The plaza’s longest profile is defined by Avenida José Antonio Páez, finishing in an angle at the east end, whose apex used to point to the aforementioned La India Monument. At the center of the plaza is a pedestrian statue of U.S. President George Washington, a work cast in bronze, by American sculptor W.R. O’Donovan, which rests on a marble pedestal. It was initially installed in 1883 in the same name plaza located between the Santa Teresa Basilica and the National Theater. On September 25th 2009, Plaza Washington was declared a «Cultural Interest property». This legal protection was granted by the Institute of Cultural Heritage.