DC’s Hidden Places: Snow’s Court

• October 14, 2014

by Lark Turner

In this week’s Hidden Places, UrbanTurf ventures to Foggy Bottom for a closer look at Snow’s Court, a half-block stretch of shrunken rowhouses in the heart of the District’s densest neighborhood.

Snow’s Court sits between 25th and 26th Streets NW, with K Street to the north and I Street to the south (map). It’s near George Washington University Hospital and not far from the Watergate.

The one- and two-bedroom homes on Snow’s Court are surrounded by towering apartment complexes and open onto an alleyway. Advocates for a Foggy Bottom Historic District say Snow’s was one of the city’s first inhabited alleys.

A two-bedroom, two-bath home on the block sold in August for $675,000 after spending six days on the market. The buyer then apparently put it on the rental market for $3,300 a month.

The alley wasn’t always such a desirable place to live, according to a publication from George Washington University, which suggests the court was once “the most disreputable and dangerous section of the city.” In a transcript from a 1914 Senate hearing, the court was listed among those with “the worst reputation of any alleys in the city.”

Here’s a look at one of the smaller houses on Snows Court, a one-bedroom which is available to rent for $2,200 a month (photos via Nest DC):

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This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dcs_hidden_places_snows_court/9085