Preservation Alert: Press Coverage and Three Threats

News Coverage – Savannah’s Historic Review Processes Are Broken

As reported in our last Preservation Update link, The City of Savannah Zoning Board of Appeals rejected the appeal of the COA for the overscale building proposed for 20-24 E. Oglethorpe Avenue, just steps away from the Juliette Godon Low Birthplace. A recent article portrays the ineffectiveness of our local boards in preserving the Historic District. For your reading pleasure, please take a look at this article, https://www.thesavannahian.com/editors-note-a-savannah-preservation-tale-in-six-stories

When the Cat’s Away the Mice Will Play – Three Threats Loom Next Week, Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Three threats to the historic integrity of the Historic District will be heard at the Downtown Savannah Historic District Board of Review (HDBR) next Wednesday August 13, 2025, at 1:00 PM at 112 East State Street. Please attend in person.

Whether or not you can attend, please write about any of the below proposals by Monday August 11 and either use the automatic letter writing links below or send your letters to opc.preservation@gmail.com for us to aggregate and forward to the MPC.

August is traditionally the month that some of the worst proposals are pushed through reviewing boards.

First Threat: Inappropriate York Lane Carriage House Returns to the HDBR

The proposed carriage house at 219 E. York Lane between Abercorn and Lincoln returns to the HDBR, even larger and with a request for a variance to exceed the lot coverage maximum. This proposal is designed by the same architects who gave us the overscale and unwanted bright white Amelia on York and Lincoln. Like the Amelia, this proposal is completely inappropriate in this location. The design below is slightly different from prior versions but still clashes harshly with every historic building in sight. The revised design also ignores prior MPC comments about non-compliance with the requirement for roof eaves and parapet.

If you consider this design inappropriate, please attend the hearing and/or email your objection. Please send an email to opc.preservation@gmail.com with the subject line “Opposition to 219 E. York Lane” and comment something like this,

 Dear HDBR,

I oppose the proposed carriage house at 219 East York Lane. It is not visually compatible in height and mass with the contributing buildings in view and is inconsistent with the Design Standards. Further, the variance request is solely financial in nature and should be denied.

[Signature]

[Address]

Alternatively, use this link to send an automated letter: link.

Second Threat: Southern Belle Requests Excessive Signage at 3 West Perry Street

Southern Belle, the STVR operator known for the infamous proposed pool at 3 West Perry, between Bull St. and Whitaker St., is back with tacky illuminated signage. Currently, there are at least 5 ground floor windows with 2 backlit advertisements each, as well as other signage, including a sandwich board. Southern Belle wants two additional massive non-illuminated signs at the Bull and Perry entrances and two large, illuminated signs, one on the Bull Street Façade and one blade sign at the corner of bull and Perry for a total that is excessive for one property.

If you find this request excessive, please send an email to opc.preservation@gmail.com with the subject line “Opposition to Excessive Signage at 3 W. Perry St.“ and comment something like this,  

Dear HDBR,

The amount of requested signage at 3 West Perry Street is excessive and should be denied. Further, the illuminated signs are not visually compatible with the elegant mid-nineteenth century home they would be attached to.

[Signature]

[Address]

Alternatively, use this link to send an automated letter: link.

The house, once owned by the historic Waring family was renovated by Mills Lane, Jr.. The beautiful gardens, which were destroyed by the current owner, were by the famous landscape architect Clermont Lee. One of the residents was Sophie Meldrim Shonnard, famous for her haute couture dress shop in New York, which dressed Truman Capote’s swans and made several dresses for Jackie Kennedy, including the infamous pink suit. A building with such a fascinating history should be spared such tawdry signage.

Contrast this proposal with the tasteful, non-illuminated signage of the Queensborough Bank in the historic 1791 Berrien House. Commercial signage does not have to be ugly.

Third Threat: Oversized Addition Proposed at 118 West Harris Street

The proposed addition to 118 West Harris Street, Between Whitaker Street and Barnard Street, the third threat on Wednesday, has negative implication for Savannah’s National Historic Landmark (NHL) status. The addition extends the front house to the lane. This proposal will result in the entire eastern lot line having  a two-to-three story structure.

This proposal has negative implications for the district’s historic integrity. The last status that the Savannah NHL had was “threatened.” The next category is “emergency” and after that, the loss of NHL status. Currently all NHLs are in a non-status category while the requirements are under review. There is no guarantee after several years of overscale and inappropriate development that Savannah can return to being an NHL.

In 2018, when the NPS downgraded Savannah to threatened status, it issued a detailed report addressing the entire downtown and listing the overriding threats. One threat was overbuilding of the space between the main houses on the through street and the lanes. The report stated:

Likewise, much of the growth that has occurred in the district has been in the open space between buildings and their corresponding lanes.  Often the only undeveloped area on many lots, this has led many to build additions in these spaces for additional living space and the integration of elevators.  The greatest culprit has been those additions which connect street facing residences with their associated carriage houses.  This interrupts the house-courtyard-carriage house rhythm and east-west sightlines of continuous courtyards visible from north-south collector streets (Figure 5.5 and 5.6).

The NPS included two images.

The first image (below) shows the visual space between archetypal townhouses and carriage houses. Although mislabeled in the report, the image is of 201 West Jones Street. (Note: As the OPC discussed in its March 2025 newsletter, the HDBR approved the destruction of approximately 30% of this structure, despite physical evidence that it dated from the period of initial constriction).

Another image (below) was an example of a building built through to the lane with a two-story wall on the property line. This visual effect is similar to what 118 West Harris proposes for its eastern lot line.

If you are concerned, please send an email to opc.preservation@gmail.com with the subject line “Opposition to 118 W. Harris St.” and comment something like this,

Dear HDBR,

I oppose the proposed addition at 118 West Harris Street. It is not visually compatible in height and mass with the contributing buildings in view and is inconsistent with the Design Standards. This proposal flies in the face of guidance from the National Park Service. In particular its two-story wall down the full extent of the property line is not visually compatible with the prevailing walls and fences that separate lots of nearby contributing buildings.

[Signature]

[Address]

Alternatively, use this link to send an automated letter: link.

Note that the addition to 118 West Harris Street (gray building in the middle below) would also be highly visible from Liberty Street.