This interest resulted in the creation of the "Reed-Cooke Overlay District",[1] a zoning area formed by the city in 1991 to help conserve the existing neighborhood's composition, and to manage new development.

Since the year 2000, and working within this zoning framework, a number of new mid-rise apartment houses and condo buildings have been constructed in the area.

[2] Following the end of the Civil War, Meridian Hill's land was sold and then subdivided in 1867, creating one of Washington's earliest planned subdivisions.

Initially this area grew slowly, with the Reed-Cooke portion of the tract subsequently being developed in large part from just after 1900.

The neighborhood today continues to evolve and is mainly composed of a mix of rowhouses and low- to mid-rise apartment buildings, in a variety of styles and sizes, from simple to quite elaborate.