These procedures indicated that after outlining a city's plan, growth should follow a grid centered on the square shape of the plaza.

On the day of the foundation of the city, January 18, 1535, the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, conforming to established procedure, designated a location to build the plaza.

Pizarro, taking advantage of his title of founder and governor, took a large parcel of land between the north side of the plaza and the Rímac River.

It occupies an entire block, with the width of four streets on one side and four streets on the other, and with all four sides it measures more than two thousand feet; it is very ample.Subsequently, the viceroy Diego López de Zúñiga y Velasco, count of Nieva, proposed the gallows, which had previously been located at the centre of the plaza, be moved nearer to the river to the location which is now the Desamparados train station.

The water[2] fountain was replaced in by the viceroy García Sarmiento de Sotomayor, Count of Salvatierra, who inaugurated it on September 8, 1651.

In the early nineteenth century, chef Juan José Cabezudo had a food stall in the Escribanos portal, a place very close to the plaza, where he served typical Peruvian dishes, including tamales.