The Lansburgh, Washington DC: Real Prices, Lease Types, and the Historic-Name Question

Where It Sits and the Commute It Buys

The Lansburgh sits at 425 8th St NW in Penn Quarter, a block from Ford’s Theatre and the Capital One Arena (Apartments.com). Gallery Place-Chinatown station is 0.2 miles away; Reagan National Airport is 5.1 miles, about a 9-minute drive; Dulles is 28.5 miles, about 45 minutes (Apartments.com).

Three Metro lines are within easy walking distance of this address, which is the specific reason the building markets itself to government and corporate short-term renters rather than a general residential audience.

Is The Lansburgh within walking distance of the Metro? Yes. Gallery Place-Chinatown is roughly a 4-minute walk, and Archives-Navy Memorial and Metro Center are both under 10 minutes on foot.

Floor Plans and Real Price Ranges

Available data across listing sites is inconsistent on exact current pricing, since rents shift weekly, but the range and unit sizes are consistent across every source checked.

Sources: Apartments.com, Rentable, Homes.com. The spread within each unit type is wide enough that the floor plan number alone tells you little: ask specifically whether a quoted rent is furnished-corporate or unfurnished-standard, since those sit on different pricing schedules entirely.

Furnished Short-Term vs. Unfurnished Long-Term

This is the split most listing pages blur together, and it changes the math more than the floor plan does.

For a stay under a year, the furnished nightly rate usually beats renting unfurnished and buying furniture from scratch; past a year, unfurnished tends to run cheaper per month. The building’s own short-term arm exists specifically for government staff on temporary assignment near the FBI and DHS (The Lansburgh), a narrower audience than the general “luxury apartments” framing on aggregator sites suggests.

What’s the minimum lease length for a furnished unit at The Lansburgh? Thirty nights, per the corporate-housing operators listing the property; unfurnished units run standard 12-month leases through the building directly.

Is “The Lansburgh” the Historic Department Store Building?

Some marketing descriptions call the building “a unique historic building that once was a large department store converted to a luxury high-rise” (Suite Solutions).

The real department store’s history stands on its own: it supplied the black crepe used at Abraham Lincoln’s funeral and installed DC’s first commercial elevator (Wikipedia). None of that history physically survives inside the residential tower at 425 8th St NW.

How the Rent Compares Across DC

The two comparison figures aren’t in conflict: Chinatown and Penn Quarter run above the citywide average generally, so a building can sit below its immediate neighborhood’s average rent while still costing more than the typical DC unit citywide.

Amenities, and the One Complaint Worth Checking

The building carries an indoor, sky-lit lap pool, sauna, steam room, and separate exercise room (The Lansburgh), plus a landscaped courtyard and 24-hour concierge (Suite Solutions).

A tenant review posted on CorporateHousing.com states the hot tub had been broken since April 2022 and remained unfixed at the time of posting, and that the courtyard’s water fountain sat dry despite appearing in marketing photos (CorporateHousing.com). That’s a single review, not a verified maintenance log, but specific enough to raise directly with leasing staff before signing.

Move-In Logistics

The building has two separate entrances leading to a shared four-level underground garage (CorporateHousing.com). Front-desk staff run on posted hours rather than round-the-clock coverage for leasing questions specifically.

Pet Policy and Parking

• Pets: up to two pets per apartment; a nonrefundable $250 cat fee and $600 dog fee apply (Rentable).
• Parking: on-site garage across four levels, managed by Colonial Parking, with limited spaces and an additional monthly charge (ApartmentHomeLiving).
• Accessibility: ApartmentList records no accessible units at this property (ApartmentList); confirm current ADA availability directly with leasing.

Does The Lansburgh have accessible units? Third-party listing data currently reports none, so anyone needing ADA accommodations should confirm directly with the leasing office rather than relying on aggregator listings.

Common Mistakes Renters Make Here

• Assuming the “historic” framing means historic materials or protections. It doesn’t change the building’s construction date or its lack of landmark status.
• Comparing a furnished nightly quote directly to an unfurnished monthly quote. They sit on different pricing schedules and aren’t a fair comparison.
• Skipping the amenity walk-through. The hot tub complaint above shows a pre-lease inspection of shared amenities matters more here than the marketing photos suggest.
• Not confirming ADA unit status before applying, since aggregator data currently shows none available.

Is The Lansburgh pet-friendly? Yes, up to two pets per unit, with a $250 nonrefundable cat fee and $600 nonrefundable dog fee.

Who This Building Actually Fits

Government staff and corporate relocators on 30-night-plus assignments get the clearest value here, given the building’s own stated focus on TDY and business travel (The Lansburgh) and its proximity to FBI and DHS offices. Long-term DC residents comparing unfurnished 1BRs citywide will find the Lansburgh priced above the city average but below its immediate Chinatown neighbors, with the trade-off being Metro access three lines deep and a building whose name carries more marketing weight than architectural history.