When Old Engine Company No. 12 was under construction in 1896, both sides of North Capitol Street were in rapid development. By then, Washington, DC, had outgrown its original boundaries and development pushed outside and even well beyond the outskirts of the original city lines. Along North Capitol Street and within the larger Bloomingdale and Eckington neighborhoods, developers constructed late-Victorian, Queen Anne style dwellings that catered to the city's burgeoning middle-class. Built contemporaneously with neighboring row homes, Old Engine Company No. 12 follows this design in the Dutch Revival style by architect Snowden Ashford (1866-1927). Vacated by the Fire Department in 1987, the firehouse was rented for several years by the Salvation Army. It then housed a restaurant. The site was being redeveloped when the historic building was damaged in a fire in December 2023. DC Inventory: May 25, 2006
National Register: June 6, 2007
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