Forest Hills is bounded by Connecticut Avenue and 32nd Street NW, Rock Creek Park, Nevada Avenue and Fort Circle parkland, and Melvin C. Hazen Park, with Soapstone Valley Park running through it.
Two names, one neighborhood. Forest Hills and Van Ness are used interchangeably for the same Ward 3 ground, and which one appears in a listing usually depends on whether the agent is thinking about the neighborhood or the Metro station. Search both. The more distinctive thing about the place is its edge: parkland forms nearly the entire perimeter, and one park runs through the middle. Bounded by Connecticut Avenue and 32nd Street NW, Rock Creek Park, Nevada Avenue and Fort Circle parkland, and Melvin C. Hazen Park, with Soapstone Valley Park cutting through, Forest Hills is defined more by federal land than by any plat line.
Rock Creek Park, Fort Circle parkland, Melvin C. Hazen Park and Soapstone Valley Park are federal, permanently undeveloped and not going to change. For a buyer that fixes the density of the neighborhood in a way zoning alone never does — there is no adjacent parcel waiting to be assembled. It also puts a real question on the table for lots that back to a stream valley. The District's flood rules, set out on our Washington, DC page, are administered by the Department of Energy and Environment under 20 DCMR Chapter 31, and DOEE is explicit that the FEMA maps depict riverine and coastal flooding rather than the rainfall-driven kind that comes from overwhelmed stormwater systems. Look the address up on the DC Flood Risk Tool at dcfloodrisk.org, ask the seller directly about water in the lower level, and get an insurance quote before removing contingencies.
The earthworks of Battery Terrill, a Civil War fortification, survive at 3001 Garrison Street NW. On Connecticut Avenue, a gate from the former Bureau of Standards campus is still standing and received an interpretive plaque in 2017. Neither restricts a neighboring property, but together they are the physical evidence that this ground was federal and institutional before it was residential — which is also why the neighborhood's edges are shaped the way they are, and why several of the largest parcels here have never been in private residential hands.
Forest Hills carries no local historic district designation and no homeowners association. For a Ward 3 neighborhood of its age and price band that is genuinely uncommon; much of the comparable ground to the south sits under Historic Preservation Review Board referral. Here the whole constraint is Title 11 DCMR, the Zoning Regulations of 2016. If you are contemplating an accessory apartment, Subtitle U § 253 governs: owner-occupancy of one of the two units for the duration of the use, a gross-floor-area minimum for the principal dwelling that varies by zone, a 35 percent cap on the apartment, and a Residential Rental business license with a housing-code inspection before it is rented. Confirm the lot's zone at the DC Office of Zoning first.
Forest Hills addresses are served by Hearst Elementary School or Murch Elementary School depending on where the boundary falls, and both feed Alice Deal Middle School and then Jackson-Reed High School. Because the elementary line runs through the neighborhood rather than around it, this is exactly the detail a listing sheet will not settle for you — pull the assignment for the specific address from DCPS, and re-check it if you are buying against a school year that has not started.
Forest Hills (Van Ness) sits within Washington, DC — that guide covers the zoning, permitting and site constraints that apply across the wider area.
Artur can confirm what applies to a specific address here — lot, zoning, association documents and school assignment — before you write an offer.
