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09 · American Vernacular & Regional

Mid-Atlantic Rowhouse

c. 1790–1930

Continuous rows of narrow red brick houses with shared side walls, white stone trim, sash windows, and cornices or bays.

Look for

Sash window Cornice Bay window Transom window
Elfreth's Alley, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: an example of Mid-Atlantic Rowhouse architecture
Elfreth's Alley, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photo: Photo: Mr. Kjetil Ree., CC BY-SA 3.0
Society Hill, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Society Hill, Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Smallbones, Public domain
Fells Point, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland
Fells Point, Baltimore Baltimore, Maryland · Steelplug, Public domain
Federal Hill rowhouses, Baltimore, Maryland
Federal Hill rowhouses Baltimore, Maryland · Steelplug, Public domain
Logan Circle row houses, Washington, D.C.
Logan Circle row houses Washington, D.C. · APK, CC BY-SA 4.0

what it is

Mid-Atlantic rowhouses are attached brick houses built in continuous rows in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., from about 1790 to 1930. Neighbors share party walls (common side walls), so each house has windows only at the front and back. Most are red brick with white stone or marble trim. The fronts follow the decade: flat Federal fronts with fanlights, Italianate fronts with bracketed cornices, and later Victorian fronts with bay windows. Baltimore's rowhouses are known for white marble front steps and, in working-class and immigrant districts, formstone cladding (a stone-look surface applied over brick).

Elfreth's Alley in Philadelphia and the Federal and Georgian rows of Society Hill show the early period. Federal Hill and Fells Point in Baltimore, and Capitol Hill and Georgetown in Washington, have rows from the early 1800s onward, and Logan Circle in Washington has 135 late-19th-century houses. Brownstones are faced in brown sandstone and are found mainly in New York City. Mid-Atlantic rows are brick, with stone limited to trim and steps.

how to spot one

Sash window A window made of one or more glass-filled frames, called sashes, that slide up and down in grooves. It is standard on Georgian and Federal houses and common on Victorian buildings. Cornice A deep, overhanging ledge that caps the top of a facade. It is often supported by brackets and marks where the building ends. Bay window A window projecting from the main wall, usually with three angled sides or a curved front. It adds light and floor space and is common on Italianate, Queen Anne and other Victorian houses. Transom window A small window directly above a door, separated from it by a horizontal bar called a transom. It lets light and air pass between spaces when the door is closed.

Also look for

FanlightBracketed eavesFlat roofParapet

history

Philadelphia has the longest rowhouse tradition in North America. Elfreth's Alley, laid out in 1702-1704, has 32 houses built between 1703 and 1836. In Baltimore, construction in the Federal Hill district began around 1780, and Fells Point, established as a town in 1729, had its streets laid out and plots sold by Edward Fell about 1763. Many rows inside the 1791 plan of Washington date from the early 1800s.

Later rows followed the styles of their decades. Capitol Hill has Federal townhouses and ornate Italianate bracketed houses, and the houses of Logan Circle, developed from the 1870s, are Late Victorian and Richardsonian Romanesque. By the 1940s Society Hill in Philadelphia had become one of the city's worst slums, and urban renewal from the 1950s restored its historic houses. Georgetown became a National Historic Landmark district in 1967, the Fells Point Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and the Capitol Hill Historic District in 1976.

where to find it

Philadelphia's Society Hill and Elfreth's Alley, Baltimore's Federal Hill and Fells Point, and Washington's Capitol Hill, Georgetown and Logan Circle.

easy to confuse with

Brooklyn Heights Historic District, an example of Brownstone Brownstone Row houses with brown sandstone fronts, a high stoop to the main floor over a raised basement, and a cornice. Massachusetts State House, an example of Federal Federal Refined American Georgian: oval fanlights over doors, slender proportions, and delicate garland ornament. Osborne House, an example of Italianate Italianate Low roofs on deep eaves with ornamental brackets, tall round-topped windows with heavy hoods, and square cupolas. Victorian terraces, an example of Victorian Terrace Victorian Terrace Britain's brick row house: bay windows marching down the street, stucco trim, and rhythmic chimney stacks.