Never Get Lost In Penn Quarter Again..

Washington’s street system for lettered and numbered streets makes it easy to find any address. Avenues can be a bit less exact.

First the basic street system and street names. In each of the four quadrants – NW, SW, NE and SE – the north/south streets start at First and get higher as one gets further from North and South Capitol Streets. Similarly, the east/west streets start along East Capitol and the Mall (which would at its mid-point be West Capitol Street if not the Mall) first with the alphabet letters: a, b, c, d, and so on as one heads further north and south of these streets, then with one, next two, next three syllable names, and next flora (trees and flowers such as Iris and Juniper) all in alphabetical order so one has E, F, G, H, I, but no J Street, K, L, and and so on, then for three syllables, it is Albemarle, Brandywine, Chesapeake, Davenport, Ellicot, Fesenden, Garrison, Harrison, Ingomar, etc., all in alphabetical order. If there are pubic right-of-ways between any of these streets, they would be known as [name] Place, [name] Way, [name] Road, [name] Avenue, etc. – anything but street. The network of Avenues overlays this orthagonal grid.

Next how to find an address on an east/west street, which are easier than numbered streets.

If you are between 9th and 10th streets, you are in the 900 block of whichever east/west street you are on and your address in the NW and NE quadrants will be an even number on the side closest to the Mall in NW (south side)and SW (north side) and closest to East Capitol Street in NE (south side)and SE (north side). Odd address numbers would be on the opposite side of the street. Numbers closer to 9th Street would start at or closer to 900 and 901; the highest numbers would be at the 10th Street end of the block.

Similarly, if you are between 48th and 49th streets addresses would start at 48th Street with 4800 and 4801 and go as high as 4898 and 4899 at 49th Street, the other end of the block.

How to find an address on a north/south street

Finding an address on a north/south street requires counting on ones fingers. It’s not too difficult in Penn Quarter where you can count the lettered streets on two hands (K being the 10th letter in the alphabet after dropping J).

Let’s say you want to find a friend at The Lansburgh. The buiding has two entrances, one at 420 7th Street, NW and another at 425 8th Street, NW. This requires reciting the alphabet, one letter in order starting with A for each finger, up to 4 for being in the 400 block with both 420 and 425: A, B, C, D. So The Lansburgh is between D and E streets. The US Mint is in an office building at 810 9th Street, NW. So figure out which letter is the 8th letter in the alphabet and you will know which street 810 is north of on 9th: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. The US Mint is between H and I on 9th Street, NW.

In all four quadrants, the odd numbers are closer to either North or South Capitol Street, so in the NW and SW quadrants, the odd numbers are on the east side of the street (the right side when facing north) and the even numbers are on the west side of the street(the left side when facing north). The opposite for NE and SE; the odd numbers are on the west side (the left side when facing north) and the the even numbers are on the east side of the street (the right side when facing north). The lower numbers start at the end of the block closer to the earlier letter in the alphabet, which is the lettered street or Avenue closest to either The Mall or East Capitol Street.

There is a test next week!

the compass on my iphone is one of my most used apps.. esp when out of town…and directions say “go norhteast after you exit the station…”etc yeah…also can tell folks..im “west” of this or that landmark… super helpful and lots of folks dont even know that they have a compass! xoxo