The Isaiah Davenport House is a historic home in Savannah, Georgia , United States, built in 1820. It has been operated as a historic house museum by the Historic Savannah Foundation since 1963.
11-402: The house is located at 324 East State Street, in the northwest corner of Columbia Square . The Federal-style dwelling neared completion in 1820 and first appeared on the tax rolls 1821. Master builder Isaiah Davenport , a native of New England, designed and built the home as a dwelling for his growing household as well as a demonstration of his building skills. The 1820 Federal-style dwelling
22-451: A fountain that formerly stood at the Wormsloe estate of Noble Jones , one of Georgia's first settlers. It was moved to Columbia Square in 1970 to honor Augusta and Wymberly DeRenne, descendants of Jones. It is sometimes called the "rustic fountain," as it is decorated with vines, leaves, flowers, and other woodland motifs. Irish immigrant William Kehoe built a house on the eastern side of
33-469: A period-specific landscape plan and wall detail for the garden, later revised by others. Sensing the potential for an historic site, the first floor of the house was restored and opened to the public as a museum on March 9, 1963. Years later the second and third floors were opened and Historic Savannah Foundation moved its offices to another building. Beginning in the mid-1980s leaders of the museum began an effort to adhere to professional museum standards. In
44-456: Is south of Warren Square and between Oglethorpe Square to the west and Greene Square to the east. The oldest building on the square is at 307 East President Street, today's 17 Hundred 90 Inn , which, as its name suggests, dates to the 18th century. The square was laid out in 1799 and is named for Columbia , the poetic personification of the United States. In the center of the square is
55-546: The Davenport House. This was the first act of the Historic Savannah Foundation , which has gone on to save hundreds buildings in the historic city through its renowned revolving loan fund and other historic preservation activities. In 1955, the Davenport House became the office for Historic Savannah Foundation as well as a family services agency. In 1957, Savannah Landscape Architect Clermont Huger Lee prepared
66-468: The mid-1990s the museum began another restoration process, with a funding drive headed by Cornelia Groves and Clare Ellis, which resulted in a more authentic experience for museum visitors, including period wallpaper and period room furnishings which reflect the inventory taken at the time of Isaiah Davenport’s death in 1827. Groves also established the Friends of Davenport House in 2003. The Davenport House
77-531: The next 109 years. As time passed, the once stately home in a fashionable neighborhood became a rundown rooming house in a seedy part of town. Even in an advanced state of neglect, New Deal surveyors recognized the architectural significance of the home when they identified and measured it for the Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930s. Threatened with demolition in 1955, a group of community-spirited citizens joined forces to purchase
88-409: The square, at 130 Habersham Street, in 1885. After both his business and his family expanded, he built a larger home, completed in 1892, diagonally across the square at 123 Habersham Street . The Timothy Bonticou Double House, at 418–420 East State Street , was moved one block south from 419–421 East Broughton Lane in 1972. The office of Historic Savannah Foundation is in the southwest tything of
99-549: The square, at 321 East York Street . In 2024, a Columbia Square monument was commissioned to honor the seven women who began the preservation movement in Savannah. They were Katherine Judkins Clark, Elinor Adler Dillard, Anna Colquit Hunter , Lucy Barrow McIntire, Dorothy Ripley Roebling, Nola McEvoy Roos and Jane Adair Wright. Each building below is in one of the eight blocks around the square composed of four residential "tything" blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks, now known as
110-485: Was built by upwardly mobile artisan Isaiah Davenport and his crew for his growing household, which included his wife, seven children, and nine enslaved workers. It was his family home until his death in 1827 when his wife, Sarah Clark Davenport, converted it into a boarding house. She lived in the residence on Columbia Square until 1840 when she sold it to the Baynard family of South Carolina. The house remained in their hands for
121-616: Was first opened as a museum in 1963. In 2005, The Davenport House received the Preserve America Presidential Award. In 2010. It received the Georgia Governor's Award in the Humanities. Columbia Square, Savannah Columbia Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia , United States. It is located in the second row of the city's five rows of squares, on Habersham Street and East President Street. It
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