Owens-Thomas House of the Telfair Museum, Savannah, Georgia
The Owens-Thomas House is considered the finest example of English Regency architecture in America by architectural historians. Inspired by classical antiquity, this style of architecture takes its name from England's King George IV, who ruled as Prince Regent from 1811 to 1820.
The house was designed by the young English architect William Jay (1792-1837), one of the first professionally trained architects practicing in the United States. The elegant residence was built for cotton merchant and banker Richard Richardson and his wife Francis Bolton. Mr. Richardson's brother-in-law was married to Ann Jay, the architect's sister.
Overlooking Oglethorpe Square, the house was constructed on a prominent trust lot, site of the colonial residences of the surveyor generals of South Carolina and Georgia, Henry Yonge and William Gerard DeBrahm. An inscription under the front portico signed by the local builder John Retan reads: Began Nov AD 1816 / Finished Jan AD 1819.
Three years after the house's completion, Richardson suffered financial reverses and lost his splendid home to the Bank of the United States. For eight years, Mrs. Mary Maxwell ran an elegant lodging house in the structure. Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette was a guest of the city in 1825 and stayed at the home. On March 19, he is believed to have addressed a throng of enthusiastic Savannahians from the unusual cast-iron veranda (pictured, top right) on the south facade.
In 1830, congressman, lawyer, and mayor of Savannah, George Welshman Owens, purchased the property for $10,000. It remained in the Owens family until 1951 when Miss Margaret Thomas, George Owens's granddaughter, bequeathed it to Savannah's art museum, the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences. The historic house, now called the Owens-Thomas House, is a National Historic Landmark.
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