City Exchange | |
---|---|
General information | |
Address | Bay Street at Bull Street Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
Coordinates | 32°04′52″N81°05′28″W / 32.08111°N 81.09112°W |
Opened | 1799 |
Demolished | 1904 |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 3 (facing Bay Street) 5 (facing River Street) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Adrian Boucher |
City Exchange was a building that stood on Bay Street in Savannah, Georgia, United States, between 1799 and 1904. It replaced a previous structure which was destroyed by fire in 1796. The former seat of Savannah's city government, [1] the building's location is now occupied by Savannah City Hall.
The building, which fronted around 75 feet (23 m) along Bay Street and ran back around 50 feet (15 m) toward the Savannah River, [2] was the design of French architect and builder Adrian Boucher, who arrived from New York City in 1797, [3] the year following the great fire of Savannah, to assist with the reconstruction of the city's important buildings. [4]
The Exchange served both public and private interests until 1812, when the city purchased it for use as City Hall, [5] moving from the Filature building, [6] which was destroyed by fire in 1840. [2] On the first floor, running the entire width of the building, was the long room, at the eastern end of which was the mayor's office. The rest of the room was used as council chambers. The clerk of the council's office was in the northeastern corner of this floor, adjoining the mayor's chamber. The city treasurer's office was in the northwestern corner. On the second floor was the city marshal's office among other offices. [2]
The building was renovated in 1854, including the addition of a portico. The architect was Savannah's Sholl & Fay. [7]
In December 1864, Union Army general John W. Geary gave a speech in front of the building in which he congratulated his troops, who had captured "this most beautiful city of the South" during the Civil War. [8]
In September 1896, the building was one of several that was damaged in a severe storm that passed through Savannah. [9]
The building's bell, the oldest in Georgia, was constructed in 1802 and imported from Amsterdam. It hung in the bell tower of the Exchange from 1804 until the building's demolition. After being in the possession of Rourke Iron Works until 1940. [10] It is now located in a replica of the tower, which was erected in 1957, in another location on East Bay Street. When it was in situ , the bell signalled the closing time for businesses. It was also rung by a watchman when fire broke out. It rang out in celebration of American victories during the War of 1812. [11]
George Browne Post, professionally known as George B. Post, was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition. Active from 1869 almost until his death, he was recognized as a master of several prominent contemporary American architectural genres, and instrumental in the birth of the skyscraper.
Forsyth Park is a large city park that occupies 30 acres (0.12 km2) in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, United States. The park is bordered by Gaston Street to the north, Drayton Street to the east, Park Avenue to the south and Whitaker Street to the west. It contains walking paths, a children's play area, a Fragrant Garden for the blind, a large fountain, tennis courts, basketball courts, areas for soccer and Frisbee, and home field for Savannah Shamrocks Rugby Club. From time to time, there are concerts held at Forsyth to the benefit of the public.
The city of Savannah, Province of Georgia, was laid out in 1733, in what was colonial America, around four open squares, each surrounded by four residential "tithing") blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks. The layout of a square and eight surrounding blocks was known as a "ward." The original plan was part of a larger regional plan that included gardens, farms, and "outlying villages." Once the four wards were developed in the mid-1730s, two additional wards were laid. Oglethorpe's agrarian balance was abandoned after the Georgia Trustee period. Additional squares were added during the late 18th and 19th centuries, and by 1851 there were 24 squares in the city. In the 20th century, three of the squares were demolished or altered beyond recognition, leaving 21. In 2010, one of the three "lost" squares, Ellis, was reclaimed, bringing the total to today's 22.
The Baltimore City Circuit Courthouses are state judicial facilities located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. They face each other in the 100 block of North Calvert Street, between East Lexington Street on the north and East Fayette Street on the south across from the Battle Monument Square (1815-1822), which held the original site of the first colonial era courthouse for Baltimore County and Town, after moving the Baltimore County seat in 1767 to the burgeoning port town on the Patapsco River established in 1729-1730.
The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic church in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The current church building was completed in 1873 and is the oldest church in Atlanta, as well as one of the oldest standing buildings in the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The U.S. Customhouse is a historic custom house located in Savannah in Chatham County, Georgia. It was built to house offices of the United States Customs Service.
William Gibbons Preston was an American architect who practiced during the last third of the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth. Educated at Harvard University and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he was active in Boston, New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia, where he was brought by George Johnson Baldwin to design the Chatham County courthouse. Preston stayed in Savannah for several years during which time designed the original Desoto Hotel, the Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory and 20 other distinguished public buildings and private homes. He began his professional career working for his father, the builder and architect Jonathan Preston (1801–1888), upon his return to the United States from the École in 1861, and was the sole practitioner in the office from the time his father retired c. 1875 until he took John Kahlmeyer as a partner in about 1885.
The Olde Pink House is a restaurant and tavern in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located on Abercorn Street, in the northwestern trust lot of Reynolds Square, the building dates from 1771. It is bounded by East Bryan Street to the north, Abercorn Street to the east and East Saint Julian Street to the south.
The Lucas Theatre is a theater on Abercorn Street in Reynolds Square, Savannah, Georgia, United States. Built in 1921, the theater closed in 1976 and was slated to be demolished, but preservation efforts led to it reopening in 2000. It is managed by the Savannah College of Art and Design as the Lucas Theatre for the Arts and is the home venue for the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra.
Savannah City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Savannah, Georgia, United States. Designed by architect Hyman Witcover, the building was built between 1904 and 1905 and opened the following year. It is a contributing property to the Savannah Historic District.
21 West Bay Street is a historic building in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located a block south of the Savannah River in the Savannah Historic District, the building dates from 1821.
Reynolds Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the northernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, on Abercorn Street and East St. Julian Street. It is east of Johnson Square, west of Warren Square and north of Oglethorpe Square. The oldest building on the square is The Olde Pink House, which dates to 1771.
Edward Nathaniel Packard Padelford was an American businessman, prominent in Savannah, Georgia. He was one of the city's longest-serving merchants and most respected citizens, and was a board member of a large number of companies. At the time of his death, he was among the wealthiest of merchants in the American South.
City Market is a historic market complex in the Historic District of Savannah, Georgia. Originally centered on the site of today's Ellis Square from 1733, today it stretches west from Ellis Square to Franklin Square. Established in the 1700s with a wooden building, locals gathered here for their groceries and services. This building burned in 1820 and was replaced the following year with a single-storey structure that wrapped around the square. "It was a wooden shed, about twenty-five feet wide," remembered historian Charles Seton Henry Hardee, who moved to Savannah in 1835. It had a shingle roof, supported by brick pillars. An uncovered section was used for the sale of live poultry and seafood. The covered area was mainly used for the sale of vegetables and dressed poultry. A brick building, the work of architects Augustus Schwaab and Martin Phillip Muller, was erected in 1876. They had submitted plans to the city six years earlier. The cost of the building's construction "vastly exceeded expectations" after excavations revealed weakened arches in the basement floor that required them to be replaced. It was an ornate structure with arches in the Romanesque style and large circular windows.
Sholl & Fay was the architectural firm of Charles Sholl and Calvin Fay which was active in the 19th century. The partnership existed between 1852 and 1857. They were responsible for the renovations of the City Exchange, Savannah Medical College and several Italianate buildings in Savannah, Georgia, where they were based.
Factors Walk, also commonly spelled Factor's Walk or Factors' Walk, is a historic street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It runs for about 0.4 miles (0.64 km) along the upper levels of the southern frontages of the buildings of Factors Row, which is located between River Street to the north and Bay Street, around 40 feet (12 m) above on the bluff, to the south. Although this difference in elevation was advantageous in terms of defense, it did not provide easy movement between the working waterfront and the city above.
Amos Scudder was an American architect, builder and freemason. According to his biographer, Shelley Carroll, Scudder was "an aggressive, litigious entrepreneur who made financial success his business."
Isaac Minis was a private in the War of 1812 and a member of several administrations of Savannah's city council. He later became an associate of future Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
William Richard Waring was a 19th-century American physician. He was described as one of the "most illustrious physicians" in Savannah, Georgia. The William Waring Property, the oldest extant building in that city's Wright Square, is now named for him.
The Bulloch–Habersham House was a mansion in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1820, to a design by noted architect William Jay, it stood at the corner of Barnard Street and West Perry Street, in the southwestern trust lot of Orleans Square, until its demolition in 1916. It was replaced by what is now Savannah Civic Center. Historian John D. Duncan described the building's demise as "one of the worst cases of metropolitan malfeasance to be documented in an era when the preservation movement was just beginning to gain attention."