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A Pair of Capitol Hill Alley Dwellings To Address the Missing Middle

  • May 19, 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

A Pair of Capitol Hill Alley Dwellings To Address the Missing Middle: Figure 1
Drawing of planned alley flats

Following last year’s zoning amendments, more DC households are beginning to explore constructing accessory dwellings behind their homes. Although many of these new accessory apartments so far have been more like carriage houses, a Capitol Hill couple seems to be taking a different approach.

The owners of the house at 205 Third Street SE (map) recently applied with the Board of Zoning Adjustment to build a two-story alley building with a pair of stacked two-bedroom, two-bathroom flats on the 1,120 square-foot vacant lot behind their home. Blue Star Design Build is the architect on the project.

They are requesting relief from the 1,800 square-foot lot size requirement and from the rear- and side-yard and center line lot distance requirements.

This sort of edifice is an example of the kind of maximization of land use and housing style that, if implemented regularly by-right or with the proper relief, could begin to address the city’s “missing middle”.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/another_pair_of_capitol_hill_alley_dwellings_applied_for/12592

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