We have a brand new Humans of Uprise story for you today! Meet Hilary and Mike Benson, daughter Sophie, and dog Celeste, who obtained a six kilowatt solar system from Uprise in spring 2024 for their Capitol Hill home, located in a historic district.
Travelers With DC Roots
Hilary’s mom’s family has been in DC for years. Hilary herself was born in California, and moved to England shortly after, but when her parents separated a few years later, she moved into her grandmother’s home on East Capitol Street. Her family moved around to Buffalo and Cincinnati for her mother’s newspaper jobs and eventually ended up back in the DMV.
Meanwhile, Mike lived in Colorado on and off as he was growing up, attended high school and college in Connecticut, and then spent much of his adult life in San Francisco until the couple met.
Hilary and Mike lived in San Francisco for a while, and then spent about 17 months traveling through Latin America. They then moved to DC, and three years later their daughter Sophie was born and they adopted their dog, Celeste. The following year, they bought their Capitol Hill home. They’ve lived in the District for around 15 years now. Hilary is a nurse in a transplant unit at Georgetown Hospital while Mike teaches second grade at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School.
Solar In A Historic District
The Bensons live in a unique corner home in Capitol Hill. The structure was built in 1910, and originally housed not a family, but a sewing accessories shop. The owner died in 1934 and the Bensons aren’t quite sure what occupied the building immediately after. But by 1950 a grocery store, the Try-Me Market, was located on the property, until around 1960. Once again there’s a gap in the Bensons’ knowledge of what existed in the building, although neighbors have said in the 60s or 70s sledgehammers were assembled there; they saw them drying outside.
In the 1980s the building became a residential property. The Bensons think only one person lived there until they bought the home in 2014. So they knew they’d have to consider historic district regulations to have solar installed on their flat roof.
“We actually talked about solar for a long time,” Mike says, “but we’re in the historic district, so we were afraid we wouldn’t get in. You can see our roof from across the street a little bit.”
They’d spoken with another solar company, but didn’t feel confident that they’d really be able to move forward with the project.
“I can’t remember which company it was, but they said, we’ll put it through the permitting process, but we had to do a deposit and there was no guarantee we would get the deposit back if we didn’t get the permits,” Hilary says. “It seemed like there was a good chance that we might not be allowed to do it, in which case we’d be forfeiting this big deposit.”
Working With Uprise To Install Solar In Capitol Hill
The Bensons decided not to move forward with solar, until they heard about Uprise in an unlikely place: a local brewery. While having a beer at City-State Brewing Co. in Edgewood, they randomly struck up a conversation with some solar workers.
“There was a big gathering of solar people, some solar happy hour, but not as a publicity thing, like different solar offices getting together,” Hilary says.
“I don’t know how I ended up talking to one of them. I started telling him our story. He was like, I would check out [Uprise],” Mike says. “Uprise said, we’ll guarantee that it either goes through the permitting process or you don’t pay anything.”
Thanks to Uprise’s experience with historic district solar permitting, we were able to get the project approved and install 15 solar panels on the Bensons’ roof. Now their electric bill is typically just Pepco’s connection fees, around $20.
“The solar installation process has been actually kind of a delight, to work with such a great company and feel like we’re doing a tiny bit to lessen our demand on energy production,” Hilary says. “When you think of how much less energy Pepco would need to produce if there were solar panels on everyone’s roof, it’s staggering. The sun is up there anyway; why not take advantage of it!”
DC Highlight: Capitol Hill Love
“When I think of DC, I really think of Capitol Hill, honestly,” Hilary says. “I love the homey neighborhoods and the architecture, the walkability and the bikeability.”
Mike adds, “I love DC. I mean, I loved San Francisco when I moved here. At first, it was hard. But now I actually prefer living [in DC]. It is less crazy. It’s a little more affordable and very walkable.”
And Mike in particular has explored all over DC from the seat of a bike. “I love Capitol Hill, but I also know the city really well from biking around,” he says. He’s enjoyed the bike trail connecting parks through Anacostia, C&O Canal Trail, and riding in Rock Creek Park.
Mike and another teacher run an afterschool group called the Explorer’s Club and take kids out to trek through Rock Creek Park. “Rock Creek Park’s amazing,” he says. “We see some pretty cool animals in there sometimes. We’ve seen raccoons, deer of course, Great Blue Herons, pileated woodpeckers. It’s pretty cool.”
They enjoy having family nearby. Hilary’s mom and her husband live near Union Station, an aunt and uncle live on East Capitol, and another aunt lives near Eastern Market. Her cousin, who has four sons, lives out in Maryland on the Red Line.
And with Sophie being a prolific reader, they enjoy DC’s local independent bookstores. If they have a free Saturday afternoon, the family loves going over to East City Bookshop so Sophie can buy some books. If they’re out in Maryland, they love stopping by Second Story Books’ Rockville Warehouse Store.
They’ve also enjoyed being close to the Congressional Cemetery over the years. “It’s a really great community resource,” Hilary says. “It was derelict in the 80s. Drug deals and all that kind of thing. And then a group of dog walkers started walking their dogs in the cemetery, and started cleaning the graves and mowing the grass. And now it’s this incredibly vibrant organization. They have all these programs that have very tongue-in-cheek names: Yoga Mortis, Dead Man’s Run, Soul Strolls, Cinematary. It’s actually kind of alive; people are involved and engaged.”
We Can Help With Your Tricky Historic District Solar Installation!
Maybe you also live in a historic district, or have an oddly shaped roof? Reach out to Uprise! We’ll be happy to answer your questions and walk you through the solar process. You can schedule a conversation with our team here or call us at (202) 750-5718.
You can also read other Humans of Uprise stories here!