I lived at the Hamilton House for five years and I have to say that the management and staff in the building are the best I've ever had in an apartment building (I've lived in abou 10 buildings in the D.C. area). Maintenance requests were taken care of right away (often within hours). Staff was always polite & firendly. Management was responsive to my concerns & ideas. I was sad to move out because I knew I'd never find another building with such great staff. The guy at the front desk has been there 25 years. I felt safe leaving at night because I could tell the front desk person I was going out & to expect me back later. And they would. This building is across the street from where Chandra Levy's apartment was. Her front desk had no clue about when she left. I knew my 'guys' would look out for me.

Now about the apartment itself: I had a (unrenovated) studio/efficiency. When I moved in the rent was $800/month. With an annual rent increase of about 3% (based on some D.C. gov't cost of living rate) after five years the rent went up a total of $130 to $930. However, for people just moving in the rental rates have shot up dramatically. The going rate for studios is $1,200 , which is very high for what you are getting space-wise. One bedrooms are over $1,600. Two bedrooms are virtually impossible to get as there are only a few on the top floor and the tenants have lived there eons and are paying next to nothing because of the rent control in D.C. -- so they never move out.

There are three passenger elevators and one freight. Agreed that you would often find one pax elevator on the fritz, but they are old. The elevator maintenence people are called but there is only so much they can do for these worn out cabs.

Be wary of apartments on the back side, as you can hear the garbage trucks early in the a.m. (@ 7 like clockwork - actually I didn't set an alarm for a while, until I somehow started sleeping through the ruckus). Avoid apartments on the lower floors right near the garbage cans or negotiate a lower rent, esp if you want to sleep in.

Washer/dryers in basement $1.50 each load per machine. They need those key cards for the laundry instead of the quarter system.

Parking was $170/month for a garage space. Street parking is do-able but not easy or fun. Plus once the parking ticket matrons have a bead on you (i.e. out of state plates or no zone sticker) they start targeting you.

Other notes: Starpower wired the building for cable last year. Plaster walls. Parquet flooring unless it is too old to fix, then you may get carpet. Storage lockers in basement. I rarely heard my neighbors, either on the sides or upstairs. Grounds are well kept. The halls and common areas are cleaned daily. Great location.

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