Petworth is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, located in Northwest D.C. While largely residential, Petworth is home to a notable commercial corridor of shops and restaurants, primarily along

Georgia Avenue Georgia Avenue is a major north-south artery in Northwest, Washington, D.C., Northwest Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, Maryland. In Washington, D.C., and for a short distance in Silver Spring, Maryland, Georgia Avenue is also U.S. Rout ...

and Upshur Street, as well as a portion of 14th Street. The neighborhood is accessible via the Georgia Ave–Petworth station on the Green Line of the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

History

Petworth was the name of the 205-acre country estate of John Tayloe III, of Mount Airy and

The Octagon House The Octagon House, also known as the Colonel John Tayloe III House, is a house located at 1799 New York Avenue, Northwest in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was built in 1799 for John Tayloe III, the wealthiest planter in ...

, likely named for the ancient town of

Petworth Petworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Chichester (district), Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 road, A272 east–west road from Heathfield, East Sussex, Heat ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England. Here he kept horses for the races at the

Washington Jockey Club The Washington Jockey Club was an American association in Washington, D.C. devoted to horse racing, founded in 1797. The club established its first racecourse four blocks from the Executive Mansion where it extended from 17th and 20th Streets a ...

, a club he founded with Charles Carnan Ridgely of Hampton. The estate, located at the northeast corner of 7th Street Pike (later known as Brightwood Avenue, now Georgia Avenue) and Rock Creek Church Road, was bequeathed to his son Benjamin Ogle Tayloe. In 1887, it was sold by Tayloe's heirs to developers for $107,000. In 1889, developers registered “Petworth” with the District surveyor as a 387-acre

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

of subdivision containing the former Tayloe estate and the Marshal Brown estate. In 1893, additional real estate deals formed "West Petworth," from land west of Brightwood Avenue, including the Ruppert Farm, which was sold for $142,680, the 20-acre Burnaby tract, and a 14-acre property known as Poor Tom’s Last Shaft. In 1900, Henry J. Ruppert sold an additional 31.7 acres west of Brightwood and Iowa Avenues and south of Utica Street (now Allison Street) to the District for a proposed municipal hospital. In the early 1900s, the expansion of a

streetcar line A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segment ...

along

to the border of

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

, made Petworth more accessible. Many of the thousands of similar brick row houses in the neighborhood were constructed by Morris Cafritz and by D.J. Dunigan Company in the 1920s–1930s. Dunigan donated the land that became the site for St. Gabriel's Church and School next to Grant Circle.

Demographics

Education

Petworth Neighborhood Library opened in 1939 at the corner of Georgia Ave. NW, Kansas Ave. NW, and Upshur St. NW. In addition to providing access to DC Public Library general circulation items, the library’s collection includes a Spanish Language collection, job and employment literature, and Adult Basic Education materials. Petworth is served by

District of Columbia Public Schools The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for Washington, D.C. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter schools in the city. Compositi ...

(DCPS). Roosevelt Senior High School enrolls students in ninth through 12th grade. Truesdell Education Campus enrolls in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Powell enrolls students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. ;Charter schools * Breakthrough Montessori Public Charter School * Bridges Public Charter School * Center City Public Charter School – Petworth Campus * E.L. Haynes Public Charter School * Washington Latin Public Charter School

Economy

In the 2000s, Petworth experienced growth in its commercial corridor. There are restaurants and bars in the neighborhood though several restaurants on Upshur Street closed in late 2018. In recent years, the neighborhood has also become known for '
Room 808
'', a minority-owned and comedian-operated comedy club located at 808 Upshur Street NW. Founded in 2021 by comedian Martin Amini, a DMV native, Room 808 has been recognized by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' as one of the best comedy clubs in the D.C. area. The venue regularly features a mix of local and national performers and was among the first in the region to host stand-up comedy shows in Spanish. ;Local events * Upshur Street Art and Craft Fair * Petworth Community Market, a

farmer's market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

, is held along 9th Street between Upshur and Taylor Streets weekly on Saturdays from May through October. * Petworth Jazz Project is a free music series of jazz performances held at Petworth Park at 8th and Taylor Streets from May through September. * Celebrate Petworth, a

street fair A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey informa ...

Landmarks

* Adams Memorial by

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculpture, sculptor of the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin to an Iris ...

(Titled: "The Peace of God." Also known as "Grief"), Rock Creek Cemetery, Webster Street and Rock Creek Church Road, NW * Billy Simpson's House of Seafood and Steaks, 3815 Georgia Avenue, NW * Engine Company 24, 3670 New Hampshire Avenue, NW (originally 3702 Georgia Avenue, NW) * Lincoln Cottage (President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home) (Formerly, Corn Rigs, Anderson House), Soldiers' Home Grounds, Rock Creek Church Road and Upshur Street, NW * Petworth Gardens (Also known as Webster Garden Apartments), 124, 126, 128, and 130 Webster St., NW *

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth (Washington, D.C.), Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across ...

, Webster Street and Rock Creek Church Road, NW * St. Paul's Church (Rock Creek Parish), Rock Creek Church Road & Webster Street, NW * Soldiers’ Home National Historic Site (United States Military Asylum), Rock Creek Church Road & Upshur Street, NW

Public art

* "The American Panorama," 1934, by Nelson Rosenberg.

Fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

. Originally located in the cafeteria at Roosevelt Senior High School, uncovered during a renovation in 2013, and now on display in the high school’s main lobby. * " (Here I Stand) In the Spirit of Paul Robeson," 2001, by Allen Uzikee Nelson.

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. Located at the corner of Georgia and Kansas Avenues NW. * "Homage to a Community," 2002, by Andrew Reid and Carlos Alves.

Mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

and ceramic tile

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

. Located inside the

metro station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...

. * " New Leaf," 2007, by Lisa Scheer. Sculpture. Located outside the metro station at Georgia and New Hampshire Avenues. * Chuck Brown mural, 2012 (Destroyed in 2020), by MacFarland Middle School students led by art teacher Charles Jean-Pierre. Mural. Formerly located on the exterior of 3701 New Hampshire Ave NW * Untitled

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

mural, 2018. Located on the 2nd Street NW wall of Slash Run, 201 Upshur Street NW. * "SHOWOFF," 2013, by Cita Sadeli (Also known as Chelove). Mural. Located on the southwest corner of Taylor Street NW and Georgia Avenue N

* Petworth mural, 2015, by Juan Pineda. Mural Located in the alley on the 800 block of Upshur Street NW between Willow and Petworth Citizen. * ''Senhora dos Tempos'' or "Lady of Time," 2016, by Robezio Marqs and Tereza Dequinta (known as the "Acidum Project"). Mural Located at Kansas Avenue and Taylor Street NW.

Notable residents

* Blelvis, entertainer *

David Grosso David Grosso (born September 18, 1970) is an American attorney and politician. He is a former at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia who lives in Brookland, Washington, D.C., Brookland. A native Washingtonian, he graduated from ...

, politician * Christina Henderson, politician * Robert A. Levy, pundit * Paperhaus, band *

Michael Steele Michael Stephen Steele (born October 19, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator who served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 and as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) f ...

, political commentator * Martha Tabor, labor organizer and artist * John Tayloe III, aristocrat and politician

References

External links

Petworth News blog
– local news about the neighborhood
Prince of Petworth blog

Petworth is Like Omaha
– historical post about the area
Why Is It Named Petworth?

Here Is Everything You Should Know About Petworth, According to Resident/Blogger Drew Schneider

Maps of Petworth Development from 1903 to 1919
{{Authority control 1887 establishments in Washington, D.C.