It was designed and built in 1844 by James Gallier as a city residence for Dr. William N. Mercer, a Maryland native, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine trained surgeon and veteran of the War of 1812, posted in New Orleans, then Natchez, Mississippi, where he married Ann Eliza Farar whose dowry included Laurel Hill and Ellis Cliffs, Mississippi by way of her mother, the heiress of Richard Ellis, who with his brother John Ellis, for their loyalty to the crown during the American Revolution, received the original 20,000 acres royal english land grant.

It epitomized the South's most refined male tastes and attitudes, a member once noted, "Propriety of demeanor and proper courtesy are alone exacted within its portals.

"[3] Founded in 1841, members organized and rented rooms first at the Merchants Exchange, 126 Royal St, in the Vieux Carre, then 129/130 Canal Street until the Civil War when it closed from 1862 to 1866.

An open club, members could freely invite guests, it sponsored dances and balls in the vicinity of Bayou St John and closed officially in 1838, due to the financial crisis of 1837.

"[55] Boston Club Founder John Randolph Grymes owned filly Susan Yandal who ran in the first races at the Fair Grounds, his cousin Henry Tayloe, younger son of leading turfman J. Tayloe III of The Octagon, was one of the founders of The Louisiana Jockey Club, along with native French Creole Bernard de Marigny.

Adjacent, to the left through a solid mahogany door,[3] is a well-decorated parlor, extending fifty-five feet deep from the front facade.

Its clubhouse has held lavish balls, regular daily lunches, monthly dinners, and annual spring and fall parties.

In The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy, "Uncle Jules" is said to have suffered a heart attack (his second) and died at the Boston Club on Mardi Gras.