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After the American Revolution, Harry and Sally Otis commissioned their friend Charles Bulfinch to design a mansion for them in the fashionable Bowdoin Square neighborhood of Boston. Its reserved classical exterior contrasted with interiors ornamented by brilliant colors, imported wallpapers and carpets, and opulent furnishings. In 1797, the Otises, their young family, and a staff of servants moved into the house and established a household that exemplified the elegant lifestyle of Boston's elite. While living there, Otis and his business partners began developing the south slope of Beacon Hill as Boston's premier residential neighborhood. Within a few years, the family decided to build an even larger mansion at the top of Beacon Hill, a move that marked the end of Bowdoin Square as Boston's most desirable address. After Bowdoin Square became increasingly commercial, the Otis House remained important in the changing neighborhood as a two-family home, a clinic offering medicated baths, a boarding house, and eventually the headquarters of Historic New England and its flagship museum.

Cambridge, Massachusetts · United States