William Scarbrough House, Savannah, Georgia, United States
Image by Billy Wilson Photography
"William Scarbrough House is a historic house in Savannah, Georgia. Built in 1819, and subjected to a number later alterations, it is nationally significant as an early example of Greek Revival architecture, and is one of the few surviving American works of architect William Jay. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. It is now home to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, and it has largely been restored to an early 19th-century appearance.
The house was built for William Scarbrough, one of the principal owners of the SS Savannah, which in 1819 became the first steamship in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
The Scarbrough House is located on the west side of central Savannah, on the west side of Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard, between Orange Street and West Bryant Street. It is now set close to the street, its original front yard having been lost due to widening of the road. It is a two-story masonry structure, with walls of brick that has been stuccoed and scored to resemble stone blocks. The building is set on a raised basement, and had a low-pitch hip roof over its front section, and another similar roof over the rear section, which housed the ballroom. The roof is obscured by the presence of a low parapet. The entrance consists of a raised platform, accessed by stairs at the sides, above which is a tall single-story portico, supported by four smooth Doric columns. The portico’s entablature is continued around the building as a string course. Above the portico is a large semi-round opening with a pair of French doors at the center, providing access to the balcony atop the portico. The interior spaces of the building retain rehabilitated (and in some cases reconstructed) decorative elements from the period of initial construction.
The house was built in 1819 for William Scarbrough, a prominent and successful Savannah merchant and shipowner. It was designed by William Jay, an Englishman who settled in Savannah in 1817, and is credited with a number of high-profile designs in the city, of which this is one of three that survive. The house underwent a number of alterations, including the addition (and later removal during restoration) of a third floor, and was from 1873 to 1962 owned by the city, which housed the West Broad Street Colored School here. The house was then acquired by the Historic Savannah Foundation, which modernized its systems and undertook some restorative steps. The house was turned over to the Telfair Museums in 1990, and in the early 1990s it underwent further rehabilitation and adaptation for use as a museum. In 1994 it was turned over to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum.
The Scarbroughs hosted James Monroe, the sitting fifth United States president, in 1819.
Savannah (/səˈvænə/ sə-VAN-ə) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. A strategic port city in the American Revolution and during the American Civil War, Savannah is today an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport. It is Georgia’s fifth-largest city, with a 2020 U.S. Census population of 147,780. The Savannah metropolitan area, Georgia’s third-largest, had a 2020 population of 404,798.
Each year, Savannah attracts millions of visitors to its cobblestone streets, parks, and notable historic buildings. These buildings include the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA), the Georgia Historical Society (the oldest continually operating historical society in the South), the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences (one of the South’s first public museums), the First African Baptist Church (one of the oldest African-American Baptist congregations in the United States), Temple Mickve Israel (the third-oldest synagogue in the U.S.), and the Central of Georgia Railway roundhouse complex (the oldest standing antebellum rail facility in the U.S.).
Savannah’s downtown area, which includes the Savannah Historic District, its 22 parklike squares, and the Savannah Victorian Historic District, is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States (designated by the U.S. government in 1966). Downtown Savannah largely retains the original town plan prescribed by founder James Oglethorpe (a design now known as the Oglethorpe Plan). During the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted by Atlanta, Savannah held sailing competitions in the nearby Wassaw Sound." – info from Wikipedia.
The fall of 2022 I did my 3rd major cycling tour. I began my adventure in Montreal, Canada and finished in Savannah, GA. This tour took me through the oldest parts of Quebec and the 13 original US states. During this adventure I cycled 7,126 km over the course of 2.5 months and took more than 68,000 photos. As with my previous tours, a major focus was to photograph historic architecture.
Now on Instagram.
