Louisburg Square

Houses on Louisburg Square, Beacon Hill

Louisburg Square is a private square located in Boston, Massachusetts that is maintained by the Louisburg Square Proprietors. While the Proprietors pay taxes to the City of Boston, the city does not own the square or its garden. It was named for the 1745 Battle of Louisbourg, in which Massachusetts militiamen led by William Pepperrell, who was made the first American baronet for his role, sacked the French Fortress of Louisbourg.

The square itself is a small grassy oval surrounded by a wrought-iron fence; access is generally not available. There is a statue of Columbus at the north end and of Aristides the Just at the south end.^[1]

The Greek Revival houses around the square reflect the rarefied privilege enjoyed by the 19th century upper class in Beacon Hill. One of the last private residences built on Louisburg Square was 2 Louisburg Square, built in 1847 for wealthy merchant and philanthropist Thomas Handasyd Perkins Jr., known as "Short-Arm Tom", who lived at 1 Joy Street. Among the famous people who lived there in the 19th Century were Atlantic Monthly editor William Dean Howells, architect Charles Bulfinch, painter John Singleton Copley, and teacher A. Bronson Alcott and his daughter, author Louisa May Alcott (who died there).^[1] Jenny Lind was married in the parlor of a house on Louisburg Square.^[1]

As of 2014, it is one of the most expensive residential neighborhoods in the USA; townhouses on Louisburg Square sold for $11,500,000 in 2011^[2] and $11,000,000 in 2012,^[3] for instance. The square is often included in walking tours and guidebooks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry owns a townhouse on Louisburg Square.^[4]

Image gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louisburg Square.

• 
  ca.1880s
• 
  ca.1930
• 
  ca.1930
• 
  2009
• 
  2013

References

Coordinates: 42°21′27.33″N 71°04′07.82″W / 42.3575917°N 71.0688389°W / 42.3575917; -71.0688389

Streets and squares in Boston
Streets	Arborway Atlantic Avenue Beacon Street Bennington Street Blue Hills Parkway Bowdoin Street Boylston Street Brattle Street Brookline Avenue Charles Street Columbus Avenue Commonwealth Avenue Congress Street Court Street Day Boulevard Dorchester Avenue Federal Street Fenway Franklin Street Gallivan Boulevard Hanover Street Huntington Avenue Jamaicaway Massachusetts Avenue Melnea Cass Boulevard Memorial Drive Milk Street Morrissey Boulevard Morton Street Neptune Road New Chardon Street Newbury Street North Street Park Street Park Drive Riverway School Street Soldiers Field Road State Street Stony Brook Reservation Parkways Storrow Drive Summer Street Tremont Street Truman Parkway Union Street Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway Washington Street West Roxbury Parkway Winter Street Yawkey Way
Squares, circles, crossings and corners	Adams Square Andrew Square Blackstone Square Brigham Circle Central Square Chester Square City Square Cleveland Circle Codman Square Copley Square Day Square Dewey Square Dock Square Downtown Crossing Dudley Square Egleston Square Fields Corner Franklin Square Haymarket Square Hyde Square Jackson Square Kenmore Square Louisburg Square Maverick Square Packard's Corner Park Square Peabody Square Post Office Square Roxbury Crossing Scollay Square Sullivan Square Teele Square Thompson Square Union Square Uphams Corner
Italics denote streets and squares that no longer exist. See also Neighborhoods in Boston Transportation in Boston