City Market (Savannah, Georgia)
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City Market is a historic market complex in the
Historic District A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
of
Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...
. Originally centered on the site of today's Ellis Square from 1733,"Savannah Then and Now: City Market"
WSAV-TV WSAV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Savannah, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. Its second digital subchannel serves as an owned-and-operated station of The CW (via The CW Plus), and also airs programming from MyNetwork ...
, March 3, 2020
today it stretches west from Ellis Square to Franklin Square."Savannah's Heart Since the 1700s"
– Savannah City Market
Established in the 1700s with a wooden building, locals gathered here for their groceries and services. This building burned in the Great Savannah Fire of 1820 and was replaced the following year with a single-storey structure that wrapped around the square.''Lost Savannah: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society'', Luciana M. Spracher (2003), p. 52 "It was a wooden shed, about twenty-five feet wide," remembered historian Charles Seton Henry Hardee, who moved to Savannah in 1835. It had a shingle roof, supported by brick pillars. An uncovered section was used for the sale of live poultry and seafood. The covered area was mainly used for the sale of vegetables and dressed poultry.''Charles Seton Henry Hardee's Recollections of Old Savannah''
p. 358
A brick building, the work of architects Augustus Schwaab and Martin Phillip Muller, was erected in 1876. They had submitted plans to the city six years earlier. The cost of the building's construction "vastly exceeded expectations" after excavations revealed weakened arches in the basement floor that required them to be replaced.''Building Savannah'', David E. Kelley,
Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...
(2000), p. 77
It was an ornate structure with arches in the Romanesque style and large circular windows. The interior of the Schwaab and Muller structure encompassed 33,000 square feet. The city's mayor, John Screven, described it as "roomy, capable of being kept in the highest condition of cleanliness, with ample ventilation". The construction was headed by carpenter James C. Saltus.''Building Savannah'', David E. Kelley,
Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...
(2000), p. 78
The market area survived two fires (in 1796 and 1820), the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, and the hurricane of 1896. It is now part of the
Savannah Historic District Savannah Historic District may refer to: *Savannah Historic District (Savannah, Georgia), a National Historic Landmark district in Georgia * Central of Georgia Railroad: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities, Savannah, Georgia, a historic district ...
, and is a popular destination for tourists due to its restaurants, art galleries and shops, which occupy many of the buildings erected in the 19th century. Sweet Georgia Brown's, a
piano bar A piano bar (also known as a piano lounge) consists of a piano or electronic keyboard played by a professional musician as a central part of an establishment that also serves alcoholic drinks. Piano bars can be located in a cocktail lounge, bar ...
which gained popularity after its appearance in
John Berendt John Berendt (born December 5, 1939) is an American author, known for writing the best-selling non-fiction book '' Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'', which was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, and '' The Ci ...
's 1994 book ''
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' is a non-fiction novel by John Berendt. The book, Berendt's first, was published on January 10, 1994, and follows the story of Jim Williams, an antiques dealer on trial for the killing of Danny Hansf ...
'', was located at 312 West St. Julian Street.


Ellis Square parking garage controversy

In 1954, the city signed a 50-year lease with the Savannah Merchants Cooperative Parking Association, allowing the association to raze the existing structure and construct a parking garage to serve the City Market retail project. "The demolition of City Market was a disaster. That was the worst thing Savannah ever did," said preservationist Cornelia Groves. A farewell ball was held on the eve of the demolition. Anger over the demolition of the market house helped spur the
historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...
movement (most notably the
Historic Savannah Foundation Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF) is a preservation organization founded in 1955 and based in Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georg ...
) in Savannah.Project for Public Spaces' ''Squares of Savannah''
accessed June 13, 2007
The outer structure of this city market building influenced the design of the
Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...
grocery store on Gwinnett Street and the
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grocery store in the Twelve Oaks shopping center on
Abercorn Street Abercorn Street is a prominent street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located between Drayton Street to the west and Lincoln Street to the east, it runs for about from East Bay Street (Savannah, Georgia), Bay Street in the north to Georgi ...
. When the garage's lease expired in 2004, the city began plans to restore Ellis Square. The old parking garage was demolished in 2006 to make way for a new public square (park) that features open spaces for public concerts, as well as an underground parking garage on Whitaker Street. The underground facility was completed and formally dedicated in January 2009. File:City Market parking garage Savannah.png, The Ellis Square parking garage around 2005. It was demolished in 2006


Timeline of market buildings

*–1820 – a wooden building was erected; burned down in 1820 *1821–1876 – a single-storey structure was erected which wrapped around the square's center *1876–1954 – a brick structure was the third and final structure that existed; torn down by the city


Buildings in City Market

* John Montmollin Warehouse * Thomas Gibbons Range


Gallery

File:City Market, Savannah, by Wilson, J. N. (Jerome Nelson), 1827-1897.jpg, The City Market building that existed between 1876 and 1954 File:City Market interior.png, Interior of the market, circa 1945, showing the large brick pillars supporting the building, as well as the tiled floor, which had a Greek key border''Lost Savannah: Photographs from the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society'', Luciana M. Spracher (2003), p. 53 File:Savannah, GA - Historic District - City Market - Belford's Restaurant (1).jpg, Belford's Restaurant in Franklin Square, 2008 File:Savannah Historic District (Savannah, Georgia) 3 20.JPG, The side of the building shows the faded paint from when it was the Belford Company Wholesale Grocers File:Robert McIntire Building.jpg, Robert McIntire Building, 221–227 West St. Julian Street in Ellis Square, 2021 File:Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar, Barnard St, Savannah GA 20160705 1.jpg, Sorry Charlie's Oyster Bar, in Ellis Square, is one of City Market's many restaurants File:Kroger Gwinnett Street Savannah, GA (7967754626).jpg, The exterior design of the
Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...
grocery store on Gwinnett Street in Savannah was influenced by the former City Market building, which had three gables on each of its façades


References


Bibliography

* {{Citation , publisher = S. Hall, and Thomas & Andrews , location = Boston , author = Jedidiah Morse , title = American Gazetteer , date = 1797 , chapter=Savannah , chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/americangazettee00mors#page/n497/mode/2up , ref = {{harvid, Morse, 1797 , author-link = Jedidiah Morse Tourist attractions in Savannah, Georgia Commercial buildings completed in 1733 Ellis Square (Savannah, Georgia) buildings Franklin Square (Savannah, Georgia) buildings History of slavery in Georgia (U.S. state) 1733 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies Market houses Shopping malls in Georgia (U.S. state) Landmarks in Savannah, Georgia