Washington Square is a public square bounded by Dearborn, Clark, Delaware, and Walton streets. It was long known as "Bughouse Square," as orators of varying abilities often used its central platform for speeches. It is fronted on the north by the Newberry Library and partially bounded by the Washington Square landmark district. Immediately west of LaSalle Boulevard, separating this area from Cabrini-Green, is the Moody Bible Institute, and immediately east is Connors Park.

Census tract 811, a four-block (0.04 sq mi.) area located between State, Dearborn, Chicago, and Division and straddling Washington Square and the Gold Coast, had 3,718 residents in 2000, giving it a population density of 90,614.2 people per square mile — the highest in Chicago.