a block of buildings erected by Noah Sturtevant.  Different parts of the block were respectively occupied as a hotel, dwelling-houses, stores, and offices, until it was burnt January 25, 1857.  A new building was erected upon its site, by Mr. Sturtevant, of iron and brick covered with mastic, 130 feet long on Maverick square, with an average width of no feet, and containing 180 rooms.  It was opened February 23, 1858, and was called for a decade or more the Sturtevant House, when it resumed its former name of Maverick House.  In its rear, on the 25th of September, 1819, a duel was fought by Lieutenants Finch and White between two elm-trees standing between Meridian and Border streets, nearly opposite the Church of the Holy Redeemer.  White fell and died upon the spot.

The Pearl Street House stood on the north-west corner of Milk and Pearl streets, and was built in 1816, and was the mansion of William Pratt.  It was first occupied as a hotel in 1836.  Colonel Shepherd was its first landlord.  The Scots’ Charitable Society frequently held its meetings there.  It was obliterated in the great fire of November 8, 1872.

The Perkins House was built in 1815, and was the mansion of Hon. Thomas H. Perkins, who donated it in 1833 to the Asylum for the Blind.  It stood on the west side of Pearl street, about midway between Milk and High streets.  It remained there under the management of Samuel G. Howe until the encroachments of business demanded its removal.  In 1839 the institution was transferred to the Mount Washington House.  The Perkins House was opened in that year under the management of a Scotchman named Thomas Gordon.  It was a favorite resort of those who dined down-town.  The Scots’ Charitable Society, of which the landlord was a member, frequently held its meetings there.  It ceased to be a public house In 1848, when it succumbed to the advancing waves of commerce.

The Congress House, built in the same year, was the mansion of Daniel Hammond, and stood on the north-east corner of Pearl and High streets.  It was opened as a public house in 1840, and was kept by Hastings, until it was swept away in the great fire before alluded to.

The Greyhound Tavern stood on Washington street, opposite Vernon street, upon the site of Graham block.  It was built in 1645, and was famous for the excellence of its punch, and was much resorted to by the convivial spirits of Boston and vicinity.  Its last landlord was John Greaton.  In 1752, and for many years subsequently, the Masonic fraternity celebrated St. John’s day there, and the courts sat there during the prevalence of small-pox in Boston.  A catamount, caught in the woods about eighty miles from Boston, was exhibited there.  It was a recruiting station for enlistments during the French war.  Gen. Washington resided there during the winter of 1776.  It ceased to be a tavern just after the Revolution.  Such was its size that it contained forty fireplaces.  On its site was erected the first fire-engine house in Roxbury.  A portion of the building still stands in the rear of Graham block.