During the 1880s, this house at 120 4th St. SE was the home of Filippo Costaggini, the Italian artist named to finish the frescoes depicting moments in American history that were started by Constantino Brumidi at the base of the dome in the Capitol Rotunda. The elegant high-styled Italianate house was built in 1874 by Henry Larman, the sanitary engineer who helped carry out “Boss” Shepherd’s plan to modernize Washington by laying miles of road and sewer lines and installing the first gas lines. Over the decades, Victorian-style architecture began to lose its appeal, and this house, as was true for many others on the Hill, was remodeled, brick painted and shutters added to evoke the more popular colonial style. In 1957, twenty years before the Capitol Hill Historic District was established, the late Dudley Brown, recognized as an expert of Victorian design, saw the hidden charms of the house and devoted years to its renovation, both inside and out.

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For more information on this historic sites, go to the restoration society’s web page for the tour at http://chrs.org/historic-sites-tour-2020/


Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.

‘I give up!’ posted earlier: