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Owens-Thomas House Historical Marker
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- Owens-Thomas House Historical
Marker
- Located at intersection of of Abercorn and Presidents
streets, Savannah
(Text)
- OWENS-THOMAS HOUSE
- MARQUIS de LAFAYETTE
This residence is the outstanding
monument to the architectural genius of William Jay who completed
his designs for its construction prior to his twenty-first birthday.
Supervision of the work brought Jay to America in 1817. Its period
is English Regency. Its style is known as Greek Revival. Its
interiors are particularly notable and, in many features, unique.
Of its style and period it is Savannah's finest and among the
nation's best.
The mansion was built 1816-1819
for Richard Richardson, a Savannah merchant. The basement, of
"tabby" construction, is of much earlier date, and
contains the original trim of the de Brahm house which once occupied
the site.
General LaFayette was quartered
here as a guest of the City when he visited Savannah in 1825.
He addressed the populace from the south balcony.
The mansion was left in trust to
the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1951 by Margaret
Gray Thomas whose grandfather, George W. Owens, distinguished
lawyer and Member of Congress, acquired the property from the
Bank of the United States. It is now a historic house museum
- 025-26 GEORGIA HISTORICAL
COMMISSION 1954
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