Alleyways were introduced into the L’Enfant Plan during the initial years of the city’s establishment. The Alley Buildings Survey is a basic-level survey designed to identify extant alley buildings determined to be 50 years or older. The goal of the project has been to provide an inventory of these alley buildings, record basic information about them, research and develop an historic context for better understanding and evaluating alley buildings, and to make recommendations for future preservation action.