George Washington at the Center of the District of Columbia

Last week CSPAN I saw a tour of the Capitol grounds.  The guide brought the anchor and camera man down a hallway in a basement area underneath the Capitol building.  Behind a gated in area was a small atrium-like room, perhaps measuring 15' x 15' (from my point of view).  The guide said that when the Capitol was built, this area had been meant to be the place of George Washington's tomb.  Being directly under the Capitol building, it would have put Washington at the direct center of all of the District of Columbia.  Apparently the plan was scrapped by the next administration.  The guide said that first of all, there was a sentiment that honoring Washington in this regard treated him too much as royalty, and this was something that people wanted to avoid.  Second, the Jeffersonians in office were against the Federalist party, to which Washington belonged.  Honoring a Federalist like this right in the Capitol might not have fared well for the Anti-Federalist Jeffersonians.  Besides - Washington's family didn't want him to be buried there.  Washington's body was therefore not entombed there, but instead at Mount Vernon.