Daffin Park-Parkside Place Historic District
Why it's listed
Daffin Park and the adjoining Parkside Place neighborhood form a historic district in southeastern Savannah. The park was designed in 1907 by landscape architect John Nolen on a symmetrical Beaux Arts plan, with a wide, tree-lined central mall, circular nodes, athletic fields, a playground and live oaks planted along its boundaries. Grayson Stadium, built in 1941 to replace an earlier municipal stadium, still hosts baseball. South of the park, the Parkside Land Company laid out Parkside Place from about 1913 on a gridiron of streets with rear service lanes, granite curbs and regularly spaced street trees. Its houses, built mainly from the 1910s to the 1940s, include Craftsman bungalows, Colonial Revival Cape Cod cottages and pared-down Tudor Revival homes. The district is recognized for landscape design, architecture and community planning, as an early automobile suburb connected to streetcar lines and planned around a major public park.
Significance in brief: Daffin Park is argued to be a rare Georgia example of a Beaux Arts-influenced "City Beautiful" plan, and Grayson Stadium is an outstanding, intact mid-20th-century stadium. Parkside Place is significant for its Craftsman, Colonial Revival and Tudor/English Vernacular houses. It is also an important early automobile suburb that reflects Savannah's southward growth and its efforts to provide parks.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 99000554, listed May 12, 1999. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Bounded by Victory Dr., Waters Ave., Bee St. and 51st Street Ln., Savannah |
|---|---|
| County | Chatham County |
| Listed | May 12, 1999 |
| Reference number | 99000554 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1907-1949 |
| Architect / builder | John Nolen, landscape architect |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts, Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Community Planning and Development |
| Level of significance | State, Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Daffin Park remains in recreational use, including Grayson Stadium as a minor-league baseball field, and Parkside Place remains residential; many houses have been rehabilitated. |
| Acreage | 155 |
| Coordinates | 32.04369, -81.08187 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 99000554.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q141737327
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.