Capitol Hill

S. Capitol, spanning parts of Northeast and Southeast DC between roughly F Street NE, 15th Street, Southeast Boulevard, and South Capitol Street. The Capitol Hill Historic District was designated locally in 1973, listed on the National Register in 1976, and expanded in 1976, 2003, and 2015, when the Swampoodle area was added. Its period of significance runs from 1791 to 1945, and it is often described as one of the largest historic districts in the country.

Most of the housing is 19th-century rowhouses, the majority late Victorian. Within a few blocks you can see Federal townhouses, small frame houses, Italianate rows with bracketed cornices, and late 19th-century pressed-brick rowhouses with Richardsonian Romanesque, Queen Anne, and Eastlake details. Infill from the 1990s adds more modern designs, many with patterned brickwork. Condo conversions are also part of the market.

Eastern Market, at 7th and C Streets SE, was designed by Adolf Cluss, built in 1871, and has operated as a public market since 1873. The South Hall holds indoor food vendors, and on weekends outdoor vendors sell produce and crafts along the sidewalks. A 2007 fire badly damaged the South Hall, and the market reopened after restoration in June 2009. Lincoln Park, on East Capitol Street, holds the 1876 Emancipation Memorial and a statue of Mary McLeod Bethune, and the Library of Congress buildings are also part of the neighborhood.

Metro stations serving Capitol Hill include Capitol South, Eastern Market, and Potomac Av, all on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines. Union Station, a Red Line station, is another nearby option.

Buyers here often ask about DC's Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP), run by the Department of Housing and Community Development, and DC Open Doors from the DC Housing Finance Agency. See our DC programs page for current eligibility and terms.

The most important practical note: DC law requires review before an alteration permit is issued for a building in a historic district. The Historic Preservation Office can approve in-kind repairs, small additions, and minor alterations, while sizable additions, major alterations, and new construction generally go to the Historic Preservation Review Board, so build that time into any renovation plan.