PRESERVATION ALERT August 4, 2026: Queensborough Bank Proposal Needs Improvement

The proposal for the new Queensborough Bank on the northeast corner of East Broughton Street and Habersham Street is back on the tentative August agenda for the Savannah Historic District Board of Review. The meeting is to be held at the Arthur A. Mendonsa Hearing Room, 112 East State Street, Savannah, GA on August 12, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. The proposal is Agenda item 12, “Petition of Rose Architects, Kevin Rose | 25-005674-COA | 402 East Broughton St. | New Construction, Part 2,” found at this link:

 

https://www.thempc.org/eagenda/x/hrb/2026/august-12-2026-historic-district-board-of-review-meeting/august-12-2026-historic-district-board-of-review-meeting.pdf

 

The proposal has too much glass relative to its historic neighbors. The windows do not have sufficient space between them and are grouped into horizontal bands that give the building too great a horizontal directionality.

Broughton Street Facade

The Habersham Street façade is particularly out of context. It is a wall of windows, unlike any of the 18th and early 19th century buildings on Habersham between Congress and State Street.

Habersham Street Facade

With its vast expanses of glass, the Proposal is more reminiscent of a 1920s factory building (below) than nearby structures like the Davenport House.

Here is a photomontage of the existing building on the east side of Habersham Street between Congress and State Streets, together with the Habersham Street façade of the proposal. The proposal is extremely out of context.

The Oglethorpe Plan Coalition, Inc. (OPC) opposes the proposal for Queensborough’s new bank building in its current design. While the OPC does not oppose the construction of the bank on this site, the current proposal does not meet the Design Standards or the Visual Compatibility Criteria in the Savannah Ordinance. Here’s what nearby buildings look like:

Such shortcomings, however, can possibly be partially mitigated through design modifications, such as reducing the amount of glass, especially at the second floor, and adjusting the horizontal cast of the facades. Our detailed analysis of this proposal can be found here.

Here are examples of refinements to the façade, including increasing the ratio of masonry to glass and spacing the windows apart:

OPC Proposed Refinement to Broughton Facade

OPC Proposed Refinement to Habersham Facade

Emails Requesting Improvement to Queensborough Proposal Due Monday, August 10, 2026

If you want to encourage refinement of this proposal, please attend the hearing and/or email the HDBR at historic@thempc.org with the subject line “Opposition to 402 E. Broughton Street and Request for Improvements” and copy opc.preservation@gmail.com.

Even if you have already written in the past, a new letter would help. Please send in your letter and/or email by August 10, 2026 in order for it to be counted. Feel free to borrow content from the OPC’s analysis (link above). A sample letter of opposition is below:

Dear HDBR,

I respectfully urge the HDBR to continue this matter with instructions to the applicant to comply with Design Standards and make the proposal more visually compatible with the 18th and 19th century structures that surround it.

In this hearing and any other future hearing on this matter, please make sure that the Proposal fits into its historic setting.

[Optional: explain where you live or work and why this matters to you personally]

[Signature]

[Address]