Shaw Historic District: The Shaw Historic District stretches north of downtown along the old streetcar lines on 7th, 9th, and 11th streets NW.

The Shaw Historic District accounts for the larger of two remaining fragments of a once-contiguous neighborhood surrounding Mount Vernon Square, which developed mostly after the Civil War. The original neighborhood was an economically and racially mixed community, with buildings of diverse quality in a rich variety of architectural styles.

Rowhouses dominate a streetscape punctuated by churches, apartment buildings, and a few commercial strips. Owner-built homes are scattered throughout, but most of the housing stock is speculative construction, reflecting late-19th century mass-production technology and a taste for more elaborate building forms and embellishments. There are approximately 450 contributing buildings, dating from about 1833 to 1932.

DC Inventory: July 22, 1999, as part of an expanded district including the Blagden Alley/Naylor Court Historic District (effective September 7, 1999)

National Register: September 9, 1999 as Mount Vernon West Historic District

DC Inventory designation amended December 16, 1999 to create a separate Shaw Historic District