Columbia Heights Style Guide for

Historic Row Houses

Produced by:
J. Otavio Thompson
Jeffrey Soule

Washington DC Info Center T 202-316-8036 otavio@dcinfocenter.com www.dcinfocenter.com

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Introduction

Why a Style Guide for Columbia Heights?

This guide is meant to assist residents, owners, and retailers in maintaining the character and quality of their
neighborhood. While the examples in this guide are mostly from Columbia Heights, residents from other
neighborhoods in Washington, DC will find topics of relevance as well. As our discussion of the architectural
periods show, there are several types of row houses in Columbia Heights. Neighborhoods such as
Georgetown and Capitol Hill already have style guides that are more appropriate for the housing stock found
there. Our work is meant to demonstrate that a few simple principles can not only make economic sense
but can also help to maintain the long-term uniqueness and value of the neighborhood. The more people
that pay attention to their home, their street, and their community, the more that we will all benefit.

Benefits of Historic Preservation

The District of Columbia has a long and rich history in architecture. This is one of the many reasons that
people have sought to locate here or to remain in their neighborhoods. Columbia Heights has undergone
many transformations since it was first developed. The quality of the streets, the houses, and the
commercial centers are all very special and help to give Columbia Heights a vitality and livable character that
is hard to find in many suburban areas of the Washington, DC metropolitan region. It is also possible to find

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a wide variety of housing in Columbia Heights, including rental apartment buildings, cooperatives,
condominiums, and row houses.

Although older buildings tend to be built very well and with high quality in terms of materials and
construction, they do need regular maintenance and care. Our aim is to demonstrate that paying attention
to the original details and not making modifications which damage or diminish the historic nature of buildings
or the street makes both economic sense for the home owner as well as the neighborhood and city.
Obviously, we have rules and regulations to manage extreme examples of development that are out of
character, such as a gas station in a residential area or a ten-story building on a street with row houses. This
is the city’s responsibility. However, there are no requirements, at present, for design and modification at the
level of details such as porches, windows, doors, fences, and landscape materials. We believe these
elements are very important to maintaining the overall quality of the Columbia Heights neighborhood. The
value of these details benefit homeowners, businesses, and the casual visitor to the neighborhood.

One of the many benefits of this style guide is

that we encourage the use of local skill, such as
stonemasons, bricklayers, roofers, iron workers,
landscape designers, and carpenters, amongst
others. Using these skilled workers, many of
whom have contributed their business informa-
tion and a bit about what they do in our guide,
are an integral part of our city’s economy. We
hope that by focusing attention to their crafts-
manship, we can encourage children in our
neighborhood to consider learning these impor-
tant skills as a way to both earn a living and the
learn an art form.

We also ask that you contact your local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) representatives or us if
you have questions about construction or modifications that you feel are of concern. While some alterations
and additions are legal, many of the additions to row houses that you sometimes see in the neighborhood
are in violation of zoning and other codes. Even when they are legal, we find the extra story additions, exten-
sions to the fronts, and sometimes to the rear of row houses damage the overall integrity of the block and
thereby reduce the value and quality. We have a lot of illustrations of these types of additions. Our advice: if
you want a bigger house, buy a bigger house - don’t bully the rest of the block!

Architectural Periods and Influence on D.C.

Columbia Heights was largely settled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since then, the neighborhood
has seen a wide variety of changes, especially along the commercial corridors. The row houses have, by
large, been maintained although there are whole blocks that were destroyed during the period of so-called
urban renewal, which maintained, in the author’s opinion, a faulty belief that the buildings were the source of
blight rather than the underlying social and economic problems. Today, it is recognized that the original
building stock can and does contribute to the quality of life and is an enormous positive benefit to support

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the social and economic fabric of the community at all income levels. Maintaining through streets, for exam-
ple, rather than cul-de-sac style closed developments help to provide better public safety. Houses with front
porches and shade-providing trees help parents to raise their children with a watchful eye on the street. We
can see remarkable contrast in the preservation of historic Bruce School versus the ugly bunker-style Bruce
Monroe school which has been demolished less than 40 years after it was built. The architectural and struc-
tural value of attractive historic buildings is what gives the school children and their parents an uplifting feeling
and makes them proud of their community. An ugly brutal building that was designed only to make some
kind of selfish architectural statement for the designer has no place in the future of Columbia Heights.

Early federal style

The simplest row house in D.C.’s housing stock is the ear-
liest row house style, from the civil war up to the 1890’s. It
is called federal because its origins were in the greek re-
vival period that was so influential in the founding of our
nation’s capital. The major historic buildings in Washing-
ton, D.C. are the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and the
U.S. Treasury, amongst many others, and they were all
built in the Greek revival style. The early federal-style row
house has few decorative elements, but it has a very solid
and classic appearance, usually with its major decorative
element being the roof cornice with dentil moldings or
brackets. Subtle lintels of brick or stone and occasionally
a stained glass transom along with the typical porch com-
plete this house style. As with the Petworth-style house
which we will discuss later, the porches are designed as
part of the house and the street.

Where porches are removed, the street suffers as does the house, which needs the porch to soften the very
flat and simple facade of these smaller houses. In addition, the porch provides shade as well as a transition
from the street to the house itself. Most of these houses are two stories with an unfinished basement,
although three stories is not uncommon.

Victorian and Eastlake styles

These are the largest and most ornate of the row houses found in Columbia Heights. After the simplicity of
the federal period, the new wealth of the merchant class and other members of the growing middle class of
Washington, D.C. was shown in the highly decorated, large row houses. Great examples can be found
throughout the neighborhood. The especially fine victorian row houses are along the 1500 blocks of Kenyon
and Irving Streets, NW.

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The roofs often include a tower or turret, and the roof material is
usually slate, sometimes even decorative slate with many different
colors in bands. Our guide shows how you can economize here
without inflicting harm to the roof or appearance if slate is beyond
your budget.

These houses seldom have a large porch but rather a smaller

decorative stoop, often flanked by impressively carved stair posts
with stone or concrete planters atop. Decorative lintels over the
windows and doorways are common, and some have large bay
windows with a balcony atop the second floor bay which is
accessible from the third floor. The Victorian style was popular
from the 1870’s to 1900, and the Eastlake style, which overlaps the
Victorian style, was a bit later from the 1880’s to 1910. Eastlake is
a transition style between the more elaborate Victorian style and
the more modern Petworth-style house.

Petworth style
Petworth was the name of the estate that was converted into
housing developments around the turn of the twentieth century.
Because this was such a large-scale development, the housing
style is one of the most frequent types in the greater Columbia
Heights and Petworth neighborhoods. These houses are very
well built and marked the transition from horse-and-buggy to the
automobile age. Many of the later Petworth style had garages in
the basement that were accessible from the alley. Of course
back then, garages were used for buggies and carriages before
cars, but usually only grander homes could afford a separate
carriage house. Some Petworth houses do have detached
garages that were built around the same time as the house itself
or slightly later. The Petworth style was influenced by both the
arts and crafts era, sometimes known as “mission” style, as well
as Spanish revival styles, which had such features as red tile
roofs and curved parapets.

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Many of these houses have small attics with dormer windows, but few have a full third story. The porch is
one of the defining features of the Petworth-style house, and through this guide, we will show how the
columns, the railings, the steps, the lattice work under the porch, and the planters all need to be considered
as a whole to maintain the character of streets with Petworth style houses on them. Because porches are
continuous as a design feature, the street character depends on the porches being there. Like we explained
earlier, where porches are missing, the whole street losses some of its quality. Similarly, roofs of these
houses are quite distinctive and apparent, and a dramatic difference in roof material makes an impact on the
whole street.

Eclectic and mixed styles

Quite often in the neighborhood, you will find houses that bor-
row from all of the aforementioned styles. There is nothing
wrong with this combining of historic elements - architects have
been doing this for centuries. Of course, most of the houses in
D.C. were not designed by architects in the first place but built
from pattern books. Seeing a Spanish mission roof with red
tiles with a Victorian door lintel or a Petworth style porch is not
unusual. In these cases, just try to maintain the character of
each individual element.

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Street-scape

How important is the street-scape?

The street-scape is the most important aspect of the neighborhood since it is the impression it makes on
visitors and residents alike. It is the unifying element that ties all the differences from house to house and
street to street together. There are three distinct sections of the street-scape: the public realm, the semi-
public realm, and the private realm. The public realm is the total public area including the street and
sidewalk. The semi-public realm is the area behind the fence and any front yard. The private realm is the
stoop, porch, and the inside of the house.

The street-scape is the introduction to the house. With its fence, gate, steps, and porch, the street-scape
should be in keeping with the semi-public nature of its purpose - to be seen yet provide a transition to the
private realm behind it. Many times, the fences have been replaced by either materials or styles that don’t fit
the overall character of the adjacent houses or the street itself. There are many great ways to express your
individuality in the neighborhood with the use of plants, planters or moveable objects, but the steps, fence,
and the yard should stay within the overall type for your block. Retaining walls also have a very important
visual impact as well as serving to keep your front yard from spilling into the street! In the back of this guide,
we have illustrated several typical retaining walls that are appropriate as well as some that are out of place.

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Porches and Steps

Probably the most altered element in the

neighborhood is the porch. In many cases, the
porch is actually gone, which as we remarked
before, creates a very negative impact on the whole
street as well as reducing the salability and
functionality of the house itself. Luckily, there are
skilled carpenters who can rebuild a porch as it
once was. This is one of the best and most
reasonable improvements that you can make if
your house is one of the houses on the block that
is missing its porch.

The elements of the porch include the roof, the ceiling, the railing, the posts and steps, and the lattice work
below the porch. The posts can be brick, but they are most often made of wood. They should never be
metal, especially wrought iron. Wrought iron looks great in New Orleans but not here in Washington, D.C.
The roof material is usually standing seam metal or shingles, and the ceiling is narrow wainscoting.

Porch lighting should be understated. In keeping with the

fact that the later houses were electrified, there are plenty
of period reproduction light fixtures that are available both
for beside the door and the porch pendant lamp if that is
the type of house you have. The porch floor should also
be wood, usually tongue and groove tightly fitted and
painted, not stained, not carpeted, not tiled, or otherwise
covered. The same goes for the railing: it should be
wood spindles and top rail, all the way down the steps.
Metal and wrought iron abound in the neighborhood but is
not the correct material. The steps should be masonry in
accord with the block, whether brick, false stone, or concrete. In some cases, the steps are also wood. It is
common for the steps to be flanked with decorative masonry piers that are topped by removable planters.

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Windows and Doors

In addition to the overuse of wrought iron on porches, many

residents have taken to wrought iron security doors that hide
their front door. As someone who has lived in much worse
neighborhoods than this one, metal security doors on the front
are definitely overkill. The front door should be simple and in
period even if it is a replacement. Many of the Victorian and
Eastlake row houses had double doors with each having a large
single pane of glass that were usually beveled. Federal and
Petworth style house doors are usually six panel without glass. A
pane of glass is usually in a transom above the door. This
transom is the right place to display your house number, too. It
should be painted on the glass, usually in gold. Please look at
the appendix page in the back of this guide to see the difference
between this and stick-on numbers, and judge for yourself! Old
English, or other period type not found in Washington, DC
should be found only on your emails if you insist but not on the
side of your front door or on the porch columns.

Windows have a huge impact on the visual character of a

building. Often, windows are replaced with single panels of
glass which are out of character with the scale of the house.
When possible, the original windows should be repaired and
retained as they are usually made with high quality
construction and often have a rope or chain counterweights
called double hung because they are hanging on ropes or
chains and have two movable windows one over the other.
The key is to ensure the window mass is broken up by the
sah (the frame around the glass) and mullions (the small
pieces of wood between the sections of glass. This helps
make the facade interesting and balanced and reflects the
overall character of the architecture.

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Roofs and Cornices

Materials and shape are the two major characteristics of

the roof. As mentioned earlier, pop-ups and additions,
even though allowed in some cases by current DC Code,
are really bad for the character and feel of the
neighborhood. The complex rooflines of some row
houses are part of the design quality. Owners can
maintain these roofs with routine maintenance and care.

If you are fortunate to have an original slate roof or tile

roof, these can still be repaired by expert craftspersons
and will last the best. Asphalt and fiberglass shingles can
be used as well to replicate the look of slate if you need
to replace or resurface your roof. Some of the federal
style houses have built up composite roofs made of
rolled roofing that is covered with tar. These roofs need
to be re-coated on a regular basis, usually every five to
eight years. In addition, sometimes a standing seem
steel roof is found on porches and on federal style
houses as well. These steel roofs need to be painted
regularly, and they offer good protection and durability.
Color is very important. Of course, slate comes in different shades but almost always shades of grey. Darker
colors for shingles and paint on steel roofs often go well with the character of the neighborhood.

Nonetheless, depending on the building, it might be desirable to paint the roof or use lighter-colored shingles
in areas not seen from the street to reduce heating from the sun, as lighter colors reflect the heat better than
dark colors. Flashing is the metal that is used on edges and valleys and should be the best quality that you
can afford. Copper is the metal traditionally used,but there are other available.

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Appendix

Great Examples

House number correctly painted on transom above door Lattice-work below porch on Petworth-style row house

Gorgeous retaining wall appointed with granite Nice planters adorning front entrance to house

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More Great Examples

Stained-glass transom above door More nice planters

Finial atop a Victorian/Eastlake-style house Beautiful door and transom

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Bad Examples

Stick-on, off-centered numbers on transom above door The window below should look like the window above

This wooden retaining wall overwhelms the street-scape Lattice-work would look better below the porch instead

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More bad examples

House number should be placed above the door Posts made of wood or brick are more appropriate

Concrete or cinderblock retaining walls hurt the street-scape Steps should not be carpeted

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