History

Lost Washington: Hamburgh Village House

by Kent Boese   •   October 28, 2009 3:45 pm

Hamburgh Village was planned in 1768 by Jacob Funk, a German colonist who moved there from Frederick Maryland. It was created to be a suburb of Georgetown. The community was bounded by H Street, 19th Street, the Potomac River, and 23rd Street—roughly today's Foggy Bottom.

The house at 412 20th Street, NW, was constructed ca. 1780. It was the only known 18th century building of its type in the District and was still largely intact in 1934 when the National Park Service prepared drawings of the structure. In 1935 it was razed, destroying the last remaining original building from Hamburgh Village. Today, the site of the home is public space south of the southwest corner of 20th and E Streets, NW.