Federal and Georgian brick rowhouses on cobblestone streets down to the Potomac, and the King Street patio where Broadcast News filmed in 1987.
What Old Town looks like
runs downhill from the historic district's edge to the Potomac, lined with two and three storey Federal and Georgian brick buildings with ground floor shops and restaurants. Storefront signs and hanging signboards change from block to block, with painted brick fronts continuing the rest of the way to the water.
Behind King Street the residential blocks keep their original cobblestones and brick sidewalks. Prince Street's 100 block, , runs Federal rowhouses with brightly painted doors and gas lamps down to the waterfront. It keeps the oldest cobblestone surface left in the district.
Houses throughout Old Town carry small paned double hung windows and dormers set into sloped roofs. Federal style fronts add fanlights over the doors. Some stand behind iron railings on raised brick stoops, and walled brick yards sit beside a few of the rowhouses. A handful of later Second Empire houses break the Federal and Georgian run with mansard roofs, and some corners carry painted wood clapboard siding instead of brick.
's blocks run brick sidewalks past three storey rowhouses, with parked cars at the curb and mature trees overhead. has the same scale of brick rowhouses west of the waterfront blocks. At the foot of King Street, opens onto the Potomac, with sailboats and a schooner docked along the water.
Shot in Old Town
219, a restaurant on King Street's lower blocks, is where Broadcast News shot the patio scene between Aaron and Jane in 1987. Aaron tells Jane that Tom cheated during the interview.
Broadcast News, 1987
Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks shot the scene on the first floor patio of 219, on King Street's lower blocks. The restaurant is still open at the same address.
What Old Town can double for
Georgetown in Washington, D.C.
Heartburn used Old Town's brick rowhouses to stand in for Capitol Hill and Georgetown townhouses. The two neighborhoods share the same Federal proportions and three bay facades, and both raise their stoops a few steps above the sidewalk. Georgetown's own brick runs a shade more varied, and its streets climb a steeper grade away from the water. Georgetown's hillier streets and the modern retail signage on M Street would need to stay out of a wide shot. Try searching Federal brick rowhouses Georgetown now.
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis's own brick rowhouses and waterfront street grid share Old Town's Georgian and Federal scale, running two and three storeys down toward the water on streets just as narrow. The brick sidewalks around State Circle carry the closest comparison. Annapolis's harbor runs narrower, and its streets curve around State Circle rather than meeting the water head on. That shows up in a wide or aerial shot. Try searching brick sidewalks around State Circle now.
New Castle, Delaware
New Castle keeps a similarly small scale of brick and clapboard Federal houses along cobblestone streets running to the Delaware River, a smaller version of Old Town's own waterfront blocks. New Castle's village green and colonial courthouse are distinct enough to need staying out of frame, and its streets are quieter and shorter than Alexandria's. Try searching brick and clapboard Federal houses now.
