More Savannah

HPG, SCAD
Savannah owes its 1800's look to two amazing entities: HPG, The Historic Preservation Group and SCAD. The Historic Preservation Group, a group of fastidious Savannah residents, oversee all architectural renovations in the inner park area, making sure that each structure is true to the era in which it was built. When you buy a home in the inner park district the good people of the Preservation Group will monitor your renovations; they come out and scrape the paint down to its original colors, then enforce those colors. They approve light fixtures, windows, mailboxes, door hardware and even stepping stones. When moldings are to be repaired, they specify how it should look and of what materials the replacements can be made. They seriously keep the look and feel cohesive and true to the era.

The other entity is SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design. This is probably the largest art college I've seen. SCAD dominates the inner park area, its campus sprawls out over dozens of historic buildings, most of which SCAD has purchased and refurbished. I believe SCAD has single handedly saved over 70 buildings in the inner park area. Thanks to the student body of SCAD, the inner park district, while elegant and stately, also has the youth and vibrancy of its more modern counterparts.



Telfair Legacy
One of the most interesting families of Savannah was the Telfair family. Edward Telfair was the governor of Georgia in the early 1800's. Just before the 1820 fire that devistated half of the city he completed the Telfair Mansion which he gave to his son Alexander. Later, in the 1860's, the end of the Telfair line, Mary, who never married nor had children, left the Telfair Mansion to the city of Savannah, along with most of the Telfair fortune. Today the Telfair Mansion is the Telfair Museum of Art, the oldest art museum in the South.



As you walk the city of Savannah you will see buildings all over sporting the Telfair name, this is a family who has survived in one form or another in heart of Savannah for 200 years, and will probably be around for eternity.


In March of 2006 the Telfair Legacy will rise again with the opening of the Jepson Performing Arts Center, 64,000 square feet of performing arts, education and display space.

Savannah
SCAD
Telfair Museum Of Art
Jepson Performing Arts Center