SCARBROUGH HOUSE, NOW THE SHIPS OF THE SEA MUSEUM
SAVANNAH'S ARCHITECT
WILLIAM JAY By John Duncan with Sandra Underwood By the late 1820s, Savannah had gained notice as a place of architectural distinction. It was, according to a visitor in 1828, “the showy town of Savannah.” Four years later, another visitor described a number of charming private residences as “truly little palaces.” These impressions of Savannah endure. For many tourists, the reason to come to this place is to see the remarkable display of architecture. But, what few visitors realize is that the initial effort to make this city beautiful can be credited to one person, a young English architect named William Jay. In December 1817, Jay stepped off a ship from Liverpool and walked up the bluff into Savannah. He was 25, just at the beginning of his career. Shortly after he arrived, he wrote an article for a local newspaper to announce his professional credentials and offer his services to the citizens of the town. He was, he said, not “a mechanical builder,” but “an architect” who had been trained in the “science” and the “art” of architecture. In this article, Jay observed that the existing buildings in Savannah were deficient in several aspects. There was, he said, a lack of understanding of the “true principles” of fine architecture, resulting in a display of “unconnected parts,” and ornament applied in “tawdry profusion.” But he was ready to remedy this regrettable situation by “the union of taste and knowledge.” It was his desire to make Savannah beautiful. In the course of little more than four years, Jay completed an astonishing number of projects. His goal, as he reported to a London art journal in 1819, was to raise “public buildings” in Savannah – these would show the importance of the town
in commerce and culture. These structures included a theater, a custom house, a bank, a school for indigent children, and perhaps a hotel. He also raised several grand homes, four of which were distinguished for their plans and finishes: the Richardson House (the Owens-Thomas House, property of the Telfair Museum of Art), the Scarbrough House (the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum), the Telfair House (the Telfair Museum of Art) and the Bulloch House (later the Bulloch-Habersham House, lost to “progress” when it was demolished in 1916). The style of these structures is now known as Regency – Jay took his training in London at the time of the reign of the Prince Regent. In its day, the style was called “Grecian,” based on the rediscovery of ancient Greek monuments by English scholars and artists in the mid-18th century. The goal of the Grecian style was to achieve a refined classicism for a new age. Jay’s version of this style is characterized by elegance and ingenuity. In 1944 the architectural historian Talbot Hamlin described Jay’s work in Savannah as the result of “almost perfect taste.” But this perfection came at a cost. Jay worked best when the budget was not constrained. The materials he used were of the finest quality and imported from England. From London, he secured marble mantelpieces from the workshop of a master sculptor, along with Coade stone (baked ceramic) balusters and column capitals, and superior formulations of paints and stuccos. Unique cast iron balconies, railings and fencing likely came from the foundries of Liverpool.
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