Bloomingdale sits just north of Florida Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C. Florida Avenue was originally known as Boundary Street, marking the northern edge of the original City of Washington.

George Beale, a War of 1812 hero, bought 10 acres of land from William Randolph in 1823 and named the estate Bloomingdale. The estate grew to 50 acres of land and over time the Beale descendants sold off parts of the estate as Washington expanded by Boundary Road. The new streetcar lines made the area easier to reach from downtown and helped spur residential development. Beginning in the 1890s, developers rapidly transformed Bloomingdale into blocks of substantial rowhouses, establishing much of the streetscape that still defines the neighborhood today.

What makes Bloomingdale especially distinctive is that so much of it was built during a relatively short period, from the 1890s through the early 1900s. That created long, cohesive rows of houses while still allowing architects and builders to experiment with form and ornament.

The neighborhood is especially known for projecting bays, rounded corner turrets with conical roofs, carved stone window surrounds, decorative brickwork, elaborate cornices, and raised front gardens behind substantial stone retaining walls. First Street contains some of the neighborhood’s grandest examples, and one section was even promoted in 1904 as the “Fifth Avenue of Bloomingdale.”