Wheat Row
The four attached houses of Wheat Row were likely the first speculative housing built after DC became the federal city.
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Wheat Row consists of four attached, three-story brick houses built as a unit in the late 18th century. They were built circa 1794 by the Greenleaf Syndicate and their design is attributed to architect William Lovering.
James Greenleaf was the United States Consul in Amsterdam when he visited Washington in 1793. He purchased 3,000 lots in the new city, but later in the year relinquished his lots and with Robert Morris and John Nicholson purchased 6,000 lots. These three men, know as the Greenleaf Syndicate, controlled one third of the saleable land in Washington. Wheat Row contains some of the first houses built by the syndicate.
Between 1964 and 1966, Wheat Row was rehabilitated as part of Harbour Square, an urban renewal housing project designed by Chloethiel Woodard Smith.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: July 23, 1973
