Lost Capitol Hill: Capitol Hill

One of the first discussions we ever had here at The Hill is Home is what, exactly, are the limits of the Hill. And there are great arguments for drawing the lines in different ways, and it is sure to be a discussion that will continue as long as people live on Capitol Hill. But I always thought that the actual physical hill was immutable, extending from just below the Capitol to about 19^th street and from the SE freeway up to H Street – basically a round area 2 miles in diameter, centered on Lincoln Park. And then I started researching the history of George Washington’s house on Capitol Hill.

George Washington had two houses built just north of the Capitol in the last years of his life. They were built on the west side of North Capitol Street, and were two stories plus an attic.

In 1834, Charles Wilkes was put in charge of the Navy’s Department of Charts and Instruments, and so he and his wife moved to DC. They bought Washington’s houses (by then joined into one large house) and lived there for many years. During this time, Wilkes led the United States Exploring Expedition, which circled the globe for four years, gathering specimens.

Wilkes returned home to great acclaim – and a court martial, which accused him of having lost a ship as well as mistreating his subordinates. He managed to be acquitted of most of the charges, and spent the next 15 years writing up the results of his expedition. During this time, he continued to live in Washington’s house, though later Wilkes used the property as an office.

The city fathers continued their efforts to “improve” the city, and one change they made was to regrade North Capitol Street. Rather than extending straight out from the Capitol and then dipping down as it reached what is now Union Station, they decided that it should be lowered, so that the Capitol would rise above the surrounding territory when viewed from the north, as it does when seen from the Mall side. This regrading was done in the late 1840s or early 1850s, and left Wilkes’s property perched on the top of a mound of earth about 20 feet above street level.

Washington's houses during the Civil War. From Henry B. Looker, "Washington's Houses on Capitol Hill" in Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, Volume 7. 1904. (Harvard College Library via Google Books)

This state of affairs remained throughout the Civil War and well thereafter. Only in the 1870s did Wilkes sell, and the new purchaser added two stories below the current ones, making the entrance once again on the same level as the street – and almost doubling the size of the building. These two efforts at landscaping removed a significant portion of what was once Capitol Hill, and redrew the physical boundaries of the Hill.

Many years later, at the beginning of the 20^th century, Wilkes’s widow and his heirs sued the city, claiming that their property had lost significant value due to the regrading.

The Commissioners disagreed, because, as their decision states, “the claimants have slept on their rights all these years, and there is a lack of evidence as to the merits of the claim.”