The squares of Savannah

Savannah is for squares.

The 24 open areas that define this Southern city tell a bittersweet story you won’t read in any tourism brochures. It’s a tale that pits preservation against ‘progress’ – parks versus three-story parking garages and advocates of renovation against the market forces that want to raze every architecturally significant building.

I set out on this unauthorized tour of old Savannah on a late Winter morning. It was cool and sunny, and I was armed with a good book. No, not Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the enduring John Berendt bestseller. I mean, A Visitor’s Guide to Savannah, by Emmeline King Cooper and Polly Wylly Cooper.

After lunch at the Gryphon Tea Room on Bull Street, on the ground floor of the ornate Scottish Rite Temple, I began my three-hour walking expedition at Madison Square. I found it impossible to ignore the 1960s Hilton hotel, built on the site of the former DeSoto Hotel, which I’m told was a truly magnificent-looking turn-of-the-century construction before meeting the wrecking ball.

Chippewa Square features a sculpture of the man who started it all, Georgia founder James Edward Oglethorpe himself. He looks kind of serious in metal. I guess I would be too if I knew what was happening here. Of particular note was the law firm on Perry Street occupying a picturesque Greek Revival home. A relief, too, to find no hideously Hilton-esque architecture.

I didn’t stay long at Crawford Square, which lacked the vintage quality of its downtown cousins. A conspicuous absence of historical buildings and the presence of a basketball court in the middle of the square made me move right along. I wasn’t at all surprised that Cooper’s book glossed over Crawford Square. I probably should have done the same.

At Greene Square a rust-colored 1845 wood frame house tucked between two larger newer buildings caught my eye. The Greene in this case is Washington aide Gen. Nathaniel Greene. Speaking of Washington, the next square is named for the first president. Most noteworthy there is the widow’s walk on a home along St. Julians Street.

Warren Square threw me for a loop. I had no idea that they’d named a square for one of my ancestors, Revolutionary War hero Gen. Joseph Warren who died at the battle of Bunker Hill. I was equally surprised when I discovered that its most prominent feature was a parking garage along East Bryan Street. Grandpa must be rolling in his grave.

Kehoe House, an 1890 brick edifice that is now an inn, captured my fancy on Columbia Square. Interesting, too, was the Isaiah Davenport House Museum, which is the first structure saved by “The Seven,” a group of women who essentially started the renovation of downtown Savannah in 1955. Built in the Federal style, it’s the only building of its kind in the city.

Oglethorpe Square’s main attraction is the Owens-Thomas House, designed in the Regency style by English architect William Jay. I skipped over to Reynolds Square, with its imposing statue of John Wesley and its can’t-miss Pink House, a stucco building that once served as Union Gen. Zebulon York’s headquarters and is now a restaurant.

Johnson Square, named to honor South Carolina Governor Robert Johnson, is at the heart of Savannah’s financial center. I counted seven banks along the perimeter. Wright Square, also in the middle of the action, is overwhelmed by the post office and court house built entirely with off-white Georgia marble. That strange-looking amber pillar in the middle? That’s a monument to William Washington Gordon, Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low’s grandfather.

A stop at the Telfair Museum on Telfair Square is mandatory for everyone who liked Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (simply called “The Book” here). Amid art exhibits and sculptures I found the eerie-looking statue of the Bird Gild from the cover of The Book. Across the square, the misguided neo-Greek Revival ‘bathroom buildings’ (so named by residents because of their tile facades). Said one neighbor of the government edifice constructed only a few years ago, ‘they ought to tear that monstrosity down.’

Don’t look for Ellis Square. It’s gone, leveled decades ago to make room for yet another parking garage. I was disappointed by the destruction of Ellis Square, since I have relatives by that name as well. It’s almost enough to think Savannah has something against my ancestors, the way they’ve paved over the squares that were nearest and dearest to me. All of which, I thought, called for a drink in the truest Savannah tradition. I ordered mine at the City Market Cafe on West Julian Street.

Franklin Square – as in Benjamin Franklin – is the site of the first African Baptist Church, thought to be the oldest black church in North America and hub for the Underground Railroad. It’s a short walk from another square lost to ‘progress,’ Liberty Square. The Robert E. Robinson parking garage, named for a city councilman killed by a bomb, according to one local I talked to, covers old Liberty Square. I noted with some irony the ‘Flame of Freedom’ memorial next to the Chatham County Jail.

On Orleans Square, I preferred to admire the Champion-McAlpin-Fowlkes House on Barnard Street, with its lovely Corinthian columns, and I tried to ignore the Savannah Civic Center, a faceless monolith constructed in 1971 with all the personality of cold grits, across the way. I thought Pulaski Square, with a more residential feel, was among the most picturesque. Spanish moss clung thickly to the trees. A dozen old Magnolias shielded me from the midday sun.

Chatham Square’s dominant building is Barnard Hall, renovated by the Savannah College of Art and Design. Residents joke that the school owns half of the city’s historical building. The other half are owned by wealthy New Yorkers who moved here because of The Book.

Now was as good a time as any to drop by Monterey Square, where the central character in The Book lived. Mercer House, the 1860s Italianate structure that served as a stage for the story, is a huge tourist draw. Monterey is among the most beautiful squares in Savannah, too, but you probably wouldn’t want to live there: hundreds if not thousands of curiosity-seekers gather in front of Mercer house every day trying to catch a glimpse of the inside. Every trolley stops along the way. In short, it’s a madhouse.

I couldn’t pass through Lafayette Square without mentioning the inn that I stayed at, the Hamilton-Turner House. The Second Empire architecture, the painstaking restoration job that its innkeepers undertook, not to mention the excellent strawberry bread served at breakfast, makes it a quintessential Savannah bed-and-breakfast experience. But my favorite square was Calhoun, named in honor of southern statesman Caldwell Calhoun. I was drawn to the roof garden in the Walker Memorial Building, the immaculate greenery and by the well-preserved architecture surrounding it.

The neighborhood around Whitefield Square turns residential – professional buildings that look as if they’re newer than other parts of town. It led me to my final square, Troupe (named for former Georgia Gov. George Michael Troupe). The sundial in the middle that doubles as a birdbath held my attention as I rested on a park bench, exhausted from walking and the sensory overload of old and new.

Thinking about the way these forces have done battle in Savannah for the better part of the last half-century is exhausting, let alone seeing the evidence of the conflict in person. On one side, the new DeSoto, the Bathroom Buildings and the remnants of Ellis and Liberty Square. On the other, Davenport House, the Owens-Thomas House and Mercer House.

Next time, maybe I’ll just stick to the trolley tour.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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