{"nrhp_refnum":"66000277","name":"Savannah Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by E. Broad, Gwinnett, and W. Broad Sts. and the Savannah River","address_restricted":false,"city":"Savannah","county":"Chatham County","state":"GA","lat":32.07399278300005,"lon":-81.09153677159838,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-11-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1966-11-13","areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic urban district of about 1,300 acres (roughly two square miles) covering the old core of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, bounded by the Savannah River, East Broad, Gwinnett and West Broad Streets. It contains about 1,100 noteworthy buildings and all six original public squares.","why_significant":"Savannah is unusual for its physical plan, an innovation in urban design by James Edward Oglethorpe, who laid it out in 1733 as wards built around open squares with house lots and reserved trustee lots. The city kept developing according to this plan through the middle of the 19th century. The district also holds a wide range of architecture from Georgian to early 20th-century styles.","narrative":"Savannah's historic district covers about two square miles of the city's original core, running from the Savannah River south to Gwinnett Street and between East and West Broad Streets. It holds roughly 1,100 noteworthy buildings, among them houses, commercial buildings, churches, the Customhouse, city hall and Telfair Academy. What sets it apart is its plan. James Edward Oglethorpe laid the city out in 1733 as wards, each centered on an open square and flanked by reserved lots for public buildings and blocks of ten house lots. By 1735 there were six wards, and growth followed this scheme into the mid-19th century. All six of the original squares survive. The buildings span Georgian, Greek Revival, Italianate, Gothic Revival, Victorian and early 20th-century Beaux-Arts and Colonial Revival work. Notable features include masonry row houses, the Factors Walk riverfront warehouses with iron bridges, and the Broughton Street shopping area. The unusual urban design and the architectural variety are the main reasons for its recognition.","period_of_significance":"18th, 19th and 20th centuries","architect_builder":"James Edward Oglethorpe (town plan); many architects named in the supplementary text, including Charles B. Cluskey, John Norris, William Gibbons Preston and Hyman W. Witcover","architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, English Regency, Greek Revival, Italianate, Gothic Revival, Victorian and Revival styles, and row houses","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked as good and integrity as altered; the district is occupied, with preservation work in progress.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.110689-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/66000277.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000277/e89cab6dda-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000277/e89cab6dda-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Savannah_HD_Lady_and_Sons01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Savannah_HD_Lady_and_Sons01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":null,"wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_Historic_District_(Savannah,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3413304"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/chatham-county/savannah-historic-district-66000277/"}