Capital Hill
| Capitol Hill Historic District and Boundary Increase | |
|---|---|
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| U.S. Registered Historic District | |
 Aerial view of Capitol Hill showing the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court of the United States, Library of Congress, and Congressional office buildings.
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| Location: | Roughly bounded by Virginia Ave., SE., S. Capitol St., F St. NE., and 14th Sts. SE & NE; and Roughly bounded by 7th St. NE, I-295, M St. SE and 11th St. SE Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates: |  38°53′23″N 77°00′40″W / 38.88972°N 77.01111°W / 38.88972; -77.01111 |
| Added to NRHP: | August 27, 1976; July 3, 2003 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 76002127; 03000585 |
Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the U.S. Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the oldest residential communities in Washington, and with roughly 35,000 people in just under two square miles, it is also one of the most densely populated.
As a geographic feature, Capitol Hill rises in the center of the District of Columbia and extends eastward. Pierre L’Enfant, as he began to develop his plan for the new Federal City in 1791, chose to locate the “Congress House” on the crest of the hill, facing the city, a site that L’Enfant characterized as a “pedestal waiting for a monument.”
The Capitol Hill neighborhood today straddles two quadrants of the city, Southeast and Northeast, and a large portion is now designated as the Capitol Hill historic district. The name Capitol Hill is often used to refer to both the historic district and to the larger neighborhood around it. To the east of Capitol Hill lies the Anacostia River, to the north is the H Street corridor, to the south are the Southeast/Southwest Freeway and the Washington Navy Yard, and to the west are the National Mall and the city’s central business district.
Description
Capitol Hill’s landmarks include not only the United States Capitol, but also the Senate and House office buildings, the Supreme Court building, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Marine Barracks, the Washington Navy Yard, and Congressional Cemetery.
It is, however, largely a residential neighborhood composed predominantly of rowhouses of different stylistic varieties and periods. Side by side exist early 19th century manor houses, Federal townhouses, small frame dwellings, ornate Italianate bracketed houses and the late 19th century press brick rowhouses with their often whimsical decorative elements combining Richardsonian Romanesque, Queen Anne, and 
Eastlakian motifs.
The main non-residential corridor of Capitol Hill is Pennsylvania Avenue, a lively commercial street with shops, restaurants and bars. Eastern Market is an 1873 public market on 7th Street SE, where vendors sell fresh meat and produce in indoor stalls and at outdoor farmers’ stands. It is also the site of an outdoor flea market every weekend. After a major fire gutted the main market building on April 30, 2007, restoration of the building began. It is expected to be completed in early 2009. Merchants have been temporarily relocated to a structure across the street.
Barracks Row (8th Street SE), so called because of its proximity to the U.S. Marine Barracks, is one of the city’s oldest commercial corridors. It dates to the late 18th century and has recently been revitalized.
Recent estimates in Capitol Hill newspapers suggest as many as a third of all Members of Congress live on Capitol Hill while in Washington.
Famous people who were born in the Capitol Hill neighborhood include John Philip Sousa (whose birthplace, on F St., is still standing) and J. Edgar Hoover. Frederick Douglass’s former house can be found in the 300 block of A Street Northeast. (In the 1970s the Douglass house was later used as an African Art Museum by Warren M. Robbins).
Capitol Hill has several local community newspapers, such as the Hill Rag and the Voice of the Hill.
