Posh Purple Panes

This afternoon, we took a wander through Beacon Hill, wending our way up and down the cobbled streets with their narrow brick sidewalks and their beautiful old houses.  This particular house at 29A Chestnut Street was once the home of actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, the infamous assassin of Abraham Lincoln.  It is a popular stop on the tourist trail because of its purple window panes.

Apparently during the period between 1818 and 1824, windows were ordered from England for several houses under construction on Beacon Hill.  When the glass arrived, it was perfectly clear, but after installation, they gradually turned a vivid shade of lavender.  Not surprisingly, the new home owners were not pleased to find their views bathed in a purple glow!  It turns out there was a manufacturing error in which too much manganese oxide was added to the glass, and when exposed to sunlight, it turned this colour.  Over time, these windows came to be regarded as quite the status symbol.