Paint in the City: Early Washington DC Architecture

Washington D.C. has a stark, yet beautiful and historical architecture. Preserving it can be a major task.

A brief history of early Washington, DC architecture, and discussion of how it affects modern remodeling.

Washington, DC is an unusual city.

Most urban centers develop for practical reasons, which can be boiled down to physical terrain: proximity to a port, easy defensibility, accessibility to a natural resource, etc.  From the practical use of the land, urban growth is organic.  But Washington, DC is an exception.  While the conjunction of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, just downstream of the fall line,  (and therefore the farthest upstream port for oceangoing boats), makes it a natural location for an urban center, neither of the two cities that developed naturally in that location were Washington, DC.  Instead, they were Georgetown and Alexandria.  Located across the river and slightly offset from each other, Georgetown and Alexandria thrived quietly until 1791.  Driven by the need of a young, bickering nation, and by the desire of President George Washington to keep everything close to his Mount Vernon estate, Washington DC was forcefully superimposed atop the two natural port towns.  The result is a city whose growth, even at the core, started off strictly choreographed rather than organic.

The modern-day result is a series of historic neighborhoods with architecture that bears the mark of many years of political and symbolic pressure, as well as practical and aesthetic concerns.

Most of the earliest pre-DC buildings in Georgetown are now gone, but some of the initial planned developments remain.  George Washington, as the closest thing our country has ever had to a king, had a huge degree of influence on the architecture of the city.  He dictated that residential development in the District of Columbia be in the form of long, rectangular row houses with contiguous fronts.  The row houses were to be between 35-40 feet tall, built of brick and stone, and parallel to the streets.  Many of these historic row houses – along with more modern replacements that stay faithful to the classic style – can still be found from Georgetown to Capitol Hill.  Their relatively narrow street-fronts and masonry construction offer a unique challenge in exterior design.  Creatively playing off of the neighbors’ decor is important in settings where houses are clustered so closely.  Too much contrast will make a particular unit look tacky, while a lack of contrast makes a street look dull and monotonous.  Typically, each street in historic Washington, DC has developed its own aesthetic “tone” (earth tones, vibrant pastels, natural masonry, etc) derived from the hue, chroma, and value typical of the palette for that street.  So it is important to pay attention to the neighbors, and to the ambience of the street as a whole, when deciding on a design scheme.

Farther out in the city, beyond the dictates of the president’s aesthetic (i.e., on the far side of Florida Avenue), single family homes with larger lots were developed to house wealthy dignitaries with business in the city.  These historical homes attempted to capture a piece of the greenery that used to make the DC area a popular hunting and outdoor exploration area, while remaining publicly prominent and convenient to the seat of political business.  Most of these homes, as well as most of the public buildings, adhere to conservative Greek Revival / Federal style, indicative of the strong builder tradition in DC’s early years.  Typically paired with a muted, conservative color palette, Greek Revival buildings can be painted in historical colors (usually involving low-chroma terra-cotta, gray, beige, steel blue, and sage green) to retain that stately early Federal look.  Many paint companies, including Sherwin-Williams and Banjamin Moore, have a line of historical paint colors that mimic the colors popular (and possible) 200 years ago, but use modern paint technology to ensure improved coverage and durability.

Preserving our city’s national heritage is an important task, and one that every designer, developer, and contractor should be aware of.  Relatively young compared to many European cities, Washington, DC is nevertheless reaching an age where its historical buildings need care, attention, and preservation so that the city can prepare for the exciting new modern age while retaining the signature of its roots.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *