Capitol Hill

District in the immediate vicinity of the Capitol building, the seat of federal government in Washington DC. It also takes in residential and commercial neighbourhoods to the east of the Capitol. Other government buildings on Capitol Hill include the Supreme Court and the Jefferson Building (which houses the Library of Congress).

Capitol Hill developed after the Civil War, then declined as the northwest of the city was expanded in the 1920s. Since the 1950s, it has experienced gentrification that has left it socially mixed, with up-market housing standing alongside abandoned buildings. In reference to government, the area is often called simply ‘the Hill’. Neighbourhoods on Capitol Hill include Lincoln Park, 1.5 km/1 mi east, and the area of the old Eastern Market, which lies to the south along the important commercial corridor of Pennsylvania Avenue. Capitol East is a term used for the larger area that extends to the Anacostia River.