Ask GGW: Why is the street grid lopsided east of Georgia Ave NW?
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Petworth 1903-1916. Photo by Ghosts of DC.
The street grid east of Georgia Avenue and south of Madison Street is slightly lopsided, with horizontal streets angled slightly towards the northeast and vertical streets angled slightly towards the northwest. Reader Robb wants to know why this is the case.
Truth be told, we’re not sure.
What we do know is that the neighborhoods that this section of Georgia Avenue traverses— Brightwood Park, Petworth, Park View, Pleasant Plains (where Howard University is located), and LeDroit Park— are all north of Florida Avenue (formerly known as Boundary Street), which means they’re outside of Pierre L’Enfant’s original DC street grid.
Many of these neighborhoods were developed in the late 1800s after the Civil War.
In 1893, Congress passed a law mandating that existing streets must be changed or moved in order to conform with the city’s street plan, the System of Permanent Highways. (“Highway,” like “parking” is a common law term whose meaning changed in the 20th century. Here it denotes only that it’s a maintained public right-of-way.)
From top to bottom, Brightwood Park, Petworth, Park View, Pleasant Plains, and LeDroit Park, all with a “lopsided” street grid east of Georgia Avenue NW. Base image from Google Maps.
Previously, Congress passed a law that said future DC subdivisions had to conform to the street, but that existing ones could stay how they were. This covered the neighborhoods along Georgia Avenue, so they kept their alignments even the System of Permanent Highways came into place.
Other neighborhoods in DC, like Brookland, Kalorama, and Columbia Heights, also deviate from the L’Enfant grid. LeDroit Park, for example, was originally a suburban neighborhood outside of the original city of Washington, and is laid out differently.
What we’re still unsure of is why these particular streets were built at an unusual angle. Do any of you, our readers, know?
Do you have a question? Each week, we’ll pose a question to the Greater Greater Washington contributors and post appropriate parts of the discussion. You can suggest questions by emailing ask@ggwash.org. Questions about factual topics are most likely to be chosen. Thanks!