Historic Landmark District Savannah, Georgia
National Register of Historic Places Data
The Historic Landmark District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the following information, which has been imported from the National Register database and/or the Nomination Form . Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- National Register ID
- 66000277
- Date Listed
- November 13, 2066
- Name
- Savannah Historic District
- Address
- Bounded by E. Broad, Gwinnett, and W. Broad Sts. and the Savannah River
- City/Town
- Savannah
- County
- Chatham
- State
- Georgia
- Category
- district
- Level of Sig.
- national
- Areas of Sig.
- COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT; ARCHITECTURE
Description
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
The present historic district encompasses approximately two square miles and contains about 1,100 noteworthy buildings.
Architectural styles represented are Georgian, Federal, English Regency, Greek Revival, Italian Villa, Gothic Revival, and several examples of row houses. Building materials most commonly used were wood, gray brick, and stucco on brick.
Both homes and commercial buildings representative of these styles exist within the historic area, and all of the original six public squares survive. Good examples of public structures are the numerous churches, the United States Customhouse, the city hall, and Telfair Academy.
DESCRIPTION OF BOUNDARIES OF HISTORIC DISTRICT (see map):
Bounded on north by south bank of Savannah River, on east by East Broad Street, on south by Gwinnett Street, and on west by West Broad Street.
Statement of Significance
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
Savannah is unusual because of its physical plan. James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia, was responsible for this innovation in urban design. Savannah was laid out in 1733 as a square of four wards, two of which fronted on the Savannah River.
In the center of each ward was an open square. Each square was bounded on the north and south by a pair of trustee lots (A, B, and C, D) which were reserved for the construction of public or semipublic buildings. On all four comers of the ward were located tythings or blocks of ten house lots, each measuring sixty by ninety feet. Streets separated the upper block (five lots) from the lower block (five lots) within each tything, and broad avenues divided the tythings within the wards on those sides not bounded by trustee lots.
By 1735 the number of wards had increased to six, and the city continued to develop according to Oglethorpe's plan through the middle of the 19th century.
