Washington Square Historic District

Washington Square Historic District is a neighborhood of 67 buildings on the west slope of Belvidere Hill, less than a mile from central Lowell, Massachusetts. Its boundaries follow an 1832 subdivision plan commissioned by brothers John and Thomas Nesmith and designed by landscape architect Alexander Wadsworth, who laid out tree-lined perpendicular streets and a small trapezoidal park. Nesmith Street, 60 feet wide, was the city's first boulevard. Most houses were built in the 1840s and 1850s. The majority are Italianate, the earliest examples of that style in Lowell, alongside Federal, Greek Revival, Second Empire, Stick and Queen Anne buildings. The John Nesmith House, built between 1841 and 1843, is a Greek Revival and Regency mansion. The neighborhood drew mill owners, agents, merchants and other prominent residents, making it the city's earliest fashionable address. The park was privately held until the city bought it in 1860. Many houses have been subdivided, but exteriors remain largely intact.