Northwest DC · Washington, DC
Bloomingdale
Brick Row Houses, Built 1892 to 1916.
Quick Answer
Bloomingdale is a historic district of brick row houses between Florida Avenue NW and Channing Street NW, west of North Capitol Street. Almost all of them went up between 1892 and 1916. DC designated the district in July 2018, so exterior changes now go through historic preservation review.
Row House Market
Fee simple & rowhouse condo · Closed sales, last 12 months
Median Sale Price
$949K
▼ -13.3% YoY
Median Days on Market
24 days
▼ -5d YoY
List-to-Sale Ratio
98.5%
Near Ask
Median $/sqft
$538
Fee Simple
$365
Condo
Row Houses in Bloomingdale
1458
521 recorded as two units
24 currently for sale
How We Calculate $/sqft
$/sqft is calculated on above-grade finished square footage, the standard used by DC appraisers, MLS systems, and most market participants. Properties with finished below-grade space (English basements, rental units) carry that square footage as additive value, but appraisers typically apply a discount of 50 to 75 cents on the dollar relative to above-grade space. Blending the two into a single $/sqft figure would make a home with a finished basement look cheaper than it is and obscure the real comparison. When a property has significant finished below-grade square footage, both metrics are presented in context so you understand the full picture before the appraiser does.
Row homes only (fee simple & rowhouse condo) · Source: BrightMLS via Compass · 46 closed sales · 12-month rolling period · Median figures · Updated periodically
Brian's Take
"Bloomingdale still stands almost exactly as it was built. DC counts 1,688 of its 1,696 main buildings as contributing to the historic district, and since 2018 that district reviews changes to them. If you want a house that will look the same from the street in thirty years, this is the place. What I check first here is the basement and the roofline, because the bones are old and the brick hides a lot."
Brian R. Hill · Let's talk about Bloomingdale →
The Neighborhood
Bloomingdale, Washington DC: What You Are Buying Into
Bloomingdale sits north of Truxton Circle and northeast of Shaw. The historic district runs from Florida Avenue NW north to Channing Street NW, and from 2nd Street NW east to North Capitol Street. North of Channing are the McMillan Sand Filtration Site and the McMillan Reservoir. The row houses went up almost entirely between 1892 and 1916, nearly all in brick. Only eight of the district's 1,696 main buildings are counted as non-contributing. More than a third of the row houses are recorded as converted to two units, and new construction is rare.
LeDroit Park is next door to the west, and Eckington is east across North Capitol Street. The commercial center is small, near 1st Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW. Big Bear Cafe sits at 1st and R Streets and Red Hen at 1822 1st Street. Transit is mostly bus: North Capitol Street, Florida Avenue NW and Rhode Island Avenue NW. The Shaw-Howard University Metro station, Green and Yellow Lines, is a walk to the southwest.
Before You Offer
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The Bloomingdale median is $949K, down 13.3% year-over-year. The median house went under contract in 24 days, against 20 in Logan Circle.
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Condo sales are rare here: about one sale in fifty over two years carried an HOA. Two-unit houses are not. More than a third of the row houses are recorded as converted to two units.
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Bloomingdale has been a historic district since July 2018. Additions and changes to the front go through the Historic Preservation Office, under design guidelines the review board approved in October 2020.
Market Position
What Drives Bloomingdale Prices
The Bloomingdale median is $949K. Shaw's is $1.1M and Logan Circle's is $1.4M.
Supply here is fixed. The neighborhood is built out: about one row house in a hundred dates from 2000 or later, and new construction now goes through historic review. Prices move with demand and with what owners do to the houses.
Streets + Pockets
Best Streets and Blocks in Bloomingdale
Not all blocks price the same. Street by street, what sets each one apart.
Rhode Island Avenue NW (1st Street to North Capitol)
The neighborhood's small commercial center: bars, restaurants and food markets near the 1st Street intersection.
1st Street NW (Florida Avenue to Bryant Street)
The main north-south street. Big Bear Cafe (1700 1st St NW) and Red Hen (1822 1st St NW) are here. Samuel Gompers lived at 2122 1st Street, a National Register landmark since 1974.
2nd Street NW (Florida Avenue to Channing Street)
The western edge of the historic district, facing LeDroit Park. The former Gage School, built in 1904 on the 2000 block, is now condominiums.
U Street NW (2nd Street to North Capitol)
An east-west row house street through the middle of the neighborhood. The block between 1st and North Capitol backs onto Crispus Attucks Park.
V Street NW (1st Street to North Capitol)
Crispus Attucks Park fills the inside of this block, behind the U and V Street row houses, reached by the alley. It is privately owned by a neighborhood nonprofit and open to the public.
Bryant Street NW (1st Street to North Capitol)
A northern block, near Channing Street. Wardman's later houses here have deeper setbacks and covered front porches. 116 Bryant Street was the house in Hurd v. Hodge, the 1948 companion case to Shelley v. Kraemer that made restrictive deed covenants unenforceable in DC.
Row Houses
Bloomingdale Row Houses: How Many There Are, and How Many Are for Sale
How to read a DC row house →Total Row Houses
1458
in Bloomingdale, 521 of them recorded as two units
Currently for Sale
24
active listings
Housing stock: DC public property records, two-unit conversions included · Active listings: BrightMLS via Compass
The Houses
Know what the finish is worth when every Bloomingdale house is big
Nearly every Bloomingdale house is a big house.
DC lists about 1,450 row houses in Bloomingdale. About 940 are single-family houses, and the figures here are for them. A quarter are recorded as built in 1900 or earlier. Most of the rest went up between 1901 and 1939, the largest share before 1910. The typical house has about 2,500 square feet in total, on a lot of about 1,600. Almost none have under 1,500 square feet, and nearly one in five has more than 3,000. Nearly every house has a basement, and seven in ten have finished it. Nearly half have four bedrooms or more.
The other 520, more than a third of the neighborhood, are recorded as converted to two units. One in four of those rises three stories or more, against one in seven single-family houses.
When size barely varies, it stops explaining the price. The finish does: the kitchen and baths, the systems, and what the lower level is.
Here is what I do with that. I compare Bloomingdale houses on the space above ground, then price the lower level as its own line. A finished rec room, a finished room with a window and a legal rental unit with its certificate of occupancy are three different numbers.
When every house is big, the size is not the story. The finish is.
Housing stock: DC public property records and BrightMLS closed sales, fee simple row houses
From the Record
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Bloomingdale was built out between 1892 and 1916 as the streetcar lines pushed north, with developers including Harry Wardman.
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The ground rises and falls across the neighborhood, so some houses enter at street level and others step down to a lower-level entry with a light well.
Frequently Asked
Bloomingdale Real Estate: Your Questions, Answered First
What is the median home price in Bloomingdale?
The median is $949K, from 46 sales over the trailing twelve months in BrightMLS. Nearly every sale is a fee simple row house, so the spread comes from the block and the condition more than the house type.
How does Bloomingdale compare to Shaw?
Bloomingdale's median is $949K, against $1.1M in Shaw. Both are row house neighborhoods of the same era. Shaw has more new construction and more commercial streets. Bloomingdale has one small commercial center, at 1st Street and Rhode Island Avenue.
What types of homes are available in Bloomingdale?
Brick row houses, built almost entirely between 1892 and 1916 and nearly all sold fee simple. More than a third are recorded as converted to two units, so a two-unit house is a common find. New construction is rare: about one row house in a hundred dates from 2000 or later. The real variation is condition, finish and what the lower level is.
What is the neighborhood's topography like?
Bloomingdale is low-lying, at the foot of hills that rise to the north and east. A buried branch of Tiber Creek once ran along what is now Flagler Place. Storms in the summer of 2012 flooded the low point near T Street and Rhode Island Avenue and backed sewage into basements, and DC Water has since built tunnels to carry the stormwater. Ask for the basement's water history before you offer.
Free · One Page
Own a row home in Bloomingdale? See what your block is actually selling for.
The Block Report: every closed sale on your block in the last 24 months, set against the Bloomingdale numbers on this page. Built from 25 years of DC MLS data. Free with your address and email.
Also Consider
Neighborhoods Near Bloomingdale, DC
LeDroit Park
West of Bloomingdale, across 2nd Street. Begun in 1873 as a planned suburb and filled in with row houses later, with Howard University next to it. Median $910K.
Median Price
$910K
Median DOM
21 days
Truxton Circle
South of Bloomingdale, across Florida Avenue. Median $755K.
Median Price
$755K
Median DOM
40 days
Shaw
Southwest of Bloomingdale. More new construction and more commercial streets. Median $1.1M.
Median Price
$1.1M
Median DOM
20 days
Next Step
Before you decide on Bloomingdale, one conversation.
The median and the days on market are the start. The specific blocks, the condition range, and what the numbers leave out are the conversation. 20 minutes. No commitment.