Edgar Allan Poe Square

The house where Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, no longer exists. Neither does the street on which the house stood, since the whole area was demolished during an urban renewal project many decades ago. However, in 2009 on the 200th anniversary of Poe’s birth, Boston renamed the small plaza across the street from the southwest corner the “Common Edgar Allan Poe Square” and installed a street sign according. The plaza is near the theater district at the intersection of Boylston and Charles Streets, close to where Poe’s house once stood.

In that same square, but predating its dedication by twenty years, is a plaque affixed to the side of one of the buildings that is dedicated to Poe. The building  currently houses a burrito joint. Nearby, at 15 Fayette Street, some Bostonian has installed a teacup-saucer-sized bronze medallion with a relief of Poe on a red-brick, black-shuttered building. A hand-made list of residents dubs the building “Poe Condominium.”

The intersection of Boylston and Charles Streets now has a statue of Poe with symbols from his most known poems.

(Adapted with permission from The New England Grimpendium by J.W. Ocker.)