Julia Brown

Who is Julia Brown?

Julia Brown was an American madam and prostitute active in mid-nineteenth century New York City. Brown has been described as "the best-known prostitute in antebellum America". She became a popular subject of tourist guidebooks, and her name appears often in diaries from the period.

In the 1830s, Brown entered a brothel owned by Adeline Miller, a well-known New York madam. She did not stay long, however; soon Brown was running brothels of her own on Chapel and Church Streets. One brothel was partially destroyed when the neighboring National Theater burnt down in 1841. By the next year, Brown had opened a new house on Leonard Street, stocked with furniture she had salvaged from the ruined playhouse. This quickly became the most famous brothel in New York City. Fanny White, a.k.a. Jane Augusta Blankman once worked in Brown's brothel.

Despite her illicit occupation, Brown was a darling of the New York upper class. She received invitations to social galas across New York City, and her admirers nicknamed her Princess Julia. She sometimes threw balls of her own in the winter as a way to attract new patrons. Charles Dickens reportedly visited her on a trip through America.