Two of the oldest buildings in the city are these adjoining houses, built about 1800 by John Lenthall, superintendent of construction of the U.S. Capitol. The two-story houses offer a sense of the scale and form of the early middle-class residential neighborhoods in the city. The red-brick, Federal-style edifices show restrained elegance and well-proportioned elements, such as the windows and double doorway, the end chimneys, and the dormer windows punctuating the roof. Originally located on 19th Street, they were occupied as residences well into the 1970s, when they were moved for a university construction project. Today, the houses are used a residences for university personnel.