Apart from government, the neighborhood is largely residential, but maintains notable commercial hubs along Pennsylvania Avenue, such as Eastern Market and Barracks Row.

[2][3] However, the tract of land had for many years belonged to the Carroll family and was noted in their records of ownership as "Rome".

[1] In 1799, the Washington Navy Yard was established on the banks of the Anacostia River, providing jobs to craftsmen who built and repaired ships.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, who was at the time President of the United States, selected the location of the Marine Barracks, which had to be within marching distance of both the Capitol and the White House, near the Washington Navy Yard.

Electricity, piped water, and plumbing were introduced in the 1890s, and were first available in the downtown areas of the District of Columbia, including Capitol Hill.

There was a real estate development boom between 1890 and 1910 as the Capitol Hill area became one of the first neighborhoods having these modern conveniences.

[11] Capitol Hill 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.

[1] In the 1990s, gentrification and the booming economy of the District of Columbia meant that the neighborhood's non-historic and obsolete buildings began to be replaced.

New buildings, which have to comply with height limits and other restrictions, are often done in a decorative modernist style, many by Amy Weinstein, whose designs feature polychrome brickwork set in patterned relief.

[12][13] The main retail corridor of Capitol Hill is Pennsylvania Avenue, a lively commercial street with shops, restaurants and bars.

After a major fire gutted the main market building on April 30, 2007, it underwent restoration and reopened on June 26, 2009.

This area is the oldest commercial district in the city, in part due to its proximity to the Washington Navy Yard.

The rehabilitation of the Old Naval Hospital combines the restoration of a historically significant landmark with the cutting-edge technologies of modern "green" architecture.

It is home to Thomas Ball's controversial Emancipation Memorial as well as Robert Berks' statue of Mary McLeod Bethune.