Harper Fowlkes House is a historic building in Savannah, Georgia , United States. It is located at 230 Barnard Street , in the southeastern trust lot of Orleans Square , and was built in 1844. It is in the Greek Revival style.
26-397: A local shipping magnate, Stephen Gardner, hired architect Charles B. Cluskey to design the house. Gardner ran into financial difficulty, however, and sold the property to his brother, John, who then sold it to Aaron Champion. Aaron and Mary Jane Griggs Champion's only child, daughter Maria, married James Wallace McAlpin (1831–1905), and used the home for an entertaining venue while living at
52-620: A loan Exhibit of Furniture and Fine Arts 18th and 19th Centuries at the Sorrel-Weed House on Madison Square : Jan-April 1940." This society later became the Historic Savannah Foundation. The Sorrel–Weed House was opened again to the public in 2005 and conducts Historic Savannah Tours during the day and Savannah Ghost Tours inside the house every evening. These tours are conducted by the Sorrel-Weed House Museum. It
78-580: Is located at the corner of Bull Street and Harris Street. The Sorrel–Weed House was the boyhood home of Brigadier General Moxley Sorrel , who fought for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. He served under General James Longstreet , and after the War wrote "Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer", considered to be one of the top postwar accounts written. General Robert E. Lee visited
104-653: Is now the Savannah Historic District . Notable examples existing in Savannah today are the Harper Fowlkes House and Sorrel-Weed Houses. In 1845 he was elected Savannah city surveyor. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1847. He later provided input on planned additions to the Executive Mansion , but his suggestions were not implemented. In 1869 Cluskey moved back to Savannah. In the aftermath of
130-762: The Civil War , he was commissioned to rebuild the St. Simons Island Light . He died, from malaria , in January 1871, before completing the St. Simons Island Light. Sorrel-Weed House The Sorrel–Weed House , or the Francis Sorrel House , is a historic landmark and Savannah Museum located at 6 West Harris Street in Savannah, Georgia . It represents one of the finest examples of Greek Revival and Regency architecture in Savannah and
156-821: The Greek Revival –style in the south, and his commissions, both public and private, can still be seen in Augusta , Milledgeville and Savannah, Georgia . Born in Ireland, Cluskey emigrated to the United States in 1827, landing in New York City, where he trained with the architectural firm Town and Davis . He moved to Savannah in 1829, where he undetook his first solo-commission, the Hermitage Plantation house, in 1830, now demolished. The Old Medical College , built in 1837,
182-701: The Hermitage Plantation, two miles down the Savannah River . McAlpin became the trustee of the plantation in 1866 after Champion was forced to foreclose on it. Upon Champion's death in 1880, the Barnard Street property was left to McAlpin, to be held in a trust for his daughter and their children: Aaron Champion (b. December 30, 1857), Henry (b. August 4, 1860), Mary Ellen (b. February 27, 1863), James Wallace Jr. (b. April 24, 1865) and Maria (b. January 31, 1869). Maria Champion McAlpin later owned 24 East Jones Street . She died on September 18, 1890. Five years later,
208-705: The Lowcountry. The Sorrel–Weed House was included in "Colonial Williamsburg's Picks", "The Caribbean Tour: Is Savannah in the Caribbean, Is the Caribbean in Savannah?", and was listed as one of the houses chosen in the Conference Committee Favorites. Ghost adventures should also investigate this place . Willie Graham, the Curator of Architecture at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, came to
234-573: The Sorrel–Weed House as a top ten Halloween travel destination. Disney's Babble listed the Sorrel–Weed house as the fifth-most haunted place in the United States in a 2013 article. Condé Nast wrote that Savannah is one of the eight best cities to visit at Halloween, citing the Sorrel–Weed House's reputation for paranormal activity as "a great way to spend Halloween." The National Trust Guide to Historic Places makes architectural comparisons between
260-532: The Sorrel–Weed House, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello , and William Jay's Owens-Thomas House in Savannah. Although clearly a Greek Revival house, English Regency influences are prominent. The Savannah College of Art and Design hosted the 28th annual meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum in 2007. Themed as "Savannah and the Lowcountry", architects and historians from around the world gathered to document and categorize houses of Savannah and
286-524: The Sorrel–Weed home. The scene is then spliced to a scene of another church located on Chippewa square, where ultimately, Forrest is seen sitting on a bench. The house was investigated by TAPS during a special 2005 Halloween Special episode of Ghost Hunters . The house was also featured on HGTV's "If Walls Could Talk" in March 2006. It was also investigated by the Ghost Adventures crew in 2014. The house
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#1733105904475312-512: The Weed family until 1914. The Sorrel–Weed House has a reputation for being one of the most haunted buildings in Savannah. Two of the most prominent stories involve Francis Sorrel's wife Matilda, who committed suicide, and his sixteen year old house slave Molly. The Sorrel–Weed House was featured in the Wall Street Journal in 2009 due to its haunted reputation. USAToday's "10best" website listed
338-453: The foyer. The Owens-Thomas House has these columns much closer to the stairway leading to the second floor, where public and private spaces were more clearly separated. An interesting observation made by Mr. Graham was that the Sorrel dining room was intended for private family use only. Mr. Graham also confirmed to staff that a wall which was torn down in 1999 was a late 19th-century addition by
364-607: The home in late 1861 and early 1862. He and Francis Sorrel had been friends since the early 1830s. Lee also visited the Sorrel family in April 1870, shortly before his death. A.J. Cohen, Sr., a prominent Savannah businessman bought the Sorrel-Weed house in 1941. The Cohen family lived in the home for more than fifty years. A.J. Cohen, Jr., built a brick addition to the house and opened Lady Jane, an upscale women's clothing store which thrived in Savannah for decades. The store closed in 1991, and
390-407: The home was bought by Stephen Bader in 1996. Bader removed the brick addition soon after his purchase. The opening scene of the 1994 film Forrest Gump was filmed from the rooftop of the Sorrel–Weed House and is a popular tourist stop. The scene, which begins with a floating feather through the Savannah sky, pans the rooftops of other buildings occupying Madison Square as seen from the very top of
416-509: The house and drew detailed blueprints during the conference. He also wrote a lengthy and quite detailed article on the Sorrel–Weed House in the 450-page Vernacular Architecture Forum Field Guide compiled at the Forum conference. He confirmed in his article that the Victorian stairway that was demolished in 1999 was indeed a late 19th-century addition by the Weed family, and the original Sorrel stairway
442-469: The mansion asserts that: "His works gained recognition because they were a direct departure from the more conservative designs of rectangular shapes that had been generally used in domestic architecture," and that the building is "without question, his most perfect example of the Greek Revival house. In the 1840 and 50s, Cluskey moved to private commissions in Savannah, three houses still existing in what
468-543: The old Governor's Mansion in Milledgeville . The house was built for Francis Sorrel (1793–1870), a wealthy shipping merchant and esteemed citizen of Savannah. One of his sons was General Gilbert Moxley Sorrel (1838–1901), one of the youngest generals in the Confederate army. In 1859, a purchase agreement was made by the prominent Savannah businessman, Henry D. Weed; he took possession of the house in 1862 and it remained in
494-474: The property around 2015 at the age of 87. She died around 2019. The McAlpin family and its offshoots made a donation to the Harper Fowlkes House in 2018. Charles B. Cluskey Charles Blaney Cluskey (ca. 1808– January 1871) was an Irish architect active from the 1830s to the start of the Civil War , and therefore he is recognized as an antebellum architect. He is reputed to be the initiator of
520-766: The property. Alida Harper Fowlkes purchased the property via auction in October 1939, paying $ 9,000. She owned the Georgian Tea Room (now the Olde Pink House ), on Reynolds Square , between 1930 and 1943. She died on January 18, 1985, aged 77, and in her will she ordered the property be held in a trust to the Society of Cincinnati in the State of Georgia. Maria McAlpin Strong Nichols, granddaughter of Aaron Champion McAlpin, visited
546-636: The siblings sold their interest in the house to Henry. Henry's first wife died. His second marriage, in 1895, was to Isabel Wilbur, of Philadelphia . Her father, Elisha, paid off the $ 15,000 mortgage on the property, before giving it to the newlyweds as a wedding gift. Isabel renovated the house in 1895, to accommodate her five Irish servants, by adding a third floor and a mansard roof . She died in 1905. Henry survived her by 26 years, dying in April 1931. His third wife, Mary Auza McAlpin, and daughter by his first wife, Claudia McAlpin Whitney, were left equal shares of
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#1733105904475572-577: Was Cluskey's first major commission and the first example of the Greek Revival style that would be his trademark. The Old Medical College is considered "one of his masterpieces". It is based on the Villa Capra "La Rotonda" . In 1839, he completed the Governor's Mansion, also based on the Villa Capra, and the main building for Oglethorpe University in 1840. The National Register nomination document for
598-611: Was featured on the Travel Channel's "The Most Terrifying Places in America" in 2010, and on the Paula Deen Network in 2015. The house is a contributing property to the Savannah Historic District . The Sorrel–Weed House was designed by famous Georgia architect Charles Cluskey , who moved to Savannah in 1829 from New York City, where it is believed he apprenticed under the architectural firm of Town and Davis . Cluskey also designed
624-512: Was one of the first two homes in the State of Georgia to be made a State Landmark in 1954. At 16,000 square feet, it is also one of the largest houses in the city. The Sorrel–Weed House was first opened to the public in January 1940 by the Society for the Preservation of Savannah Landmarks. It was the society's first exhibit and was called "The Society for the Preservation of Savannah Landmarks Presents
650-506: Was originally quite similar to the 1999 recreation. The stairway built for the Sorrel family mimics the Regency Owens-Thomas House stairway, designed earlier in 1816 by Regency architect William Jay in Savannah. This is a center stairway ascending to a mid-floor stoop, from which one can walk to the left or right to ascend to the second floor. A common device used by both William Jay and Charles Cluskey in Savannah architecture
676-474: Was the division of space in a foyer by two columns, intended to differentiate between guest space and private family space. Cluskey's use of this device was more indirect than William Jay's use in the Owens-Thomas House. Cluskey designed a small space between the front door and the two columns where guests would wait to be greeted, after which they could enter the double foyer, library, and the main length of
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