Savannah's Victorian Historic District lies immediately to the south of the more widely known National Landmark Historic District. The Victorian District, bounded on the north by Gwinnett Street, on the south by Anderson Lane, on the east by East Broad Street and on the west by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, was developed in the second half of the 19th century as a suburb of the original city.
The district, which developed as a working and lower middle class area, today contains hundreds of historic homes and buildings, many constructed in the ornately decorated carpenter style popular from the 1870s. Italianate and vernacular Greek Revival are other popular styles, though many buildings combine elements from several architectural traditions.
History of the Victorian District
At mid century, the old portion of Savannah was becoming crowded. Having rebuilt and expanded after the disastrous fire of 1820, the part of the city laid out according to James Oglethorpe's original plan - each ward arranged around a central square - was mostly built up.
The city was constrained in its eastern and westwards expansion by marshy land, then largely undrained. To the south, however, the bluff atop which Savannah was built sloped downwards more gradually, land suitable for expansion to be found there in comparative abundance.
In the 1850s, a new district south of the then city limits of Gaston Street was laid out. A little later, more land again, that would become the Victorian Historic District, was designated for the city's expansion.
Forsyth Park substituted for the square system employed in the old city, sadly abandoned in these and later extensions of Savannah.
Residential development of the present Victorian Historic District began as early as 1843, when building supply merchant James Frew laid out the small subdivision of Oglethorpe Town, between Park Avenue and Anderson Street, Montgomery and Bull, just to the southwest of where Forsyth Park now lies.
Frew was ahead of his time. Few people built in the new suburb, then too far from the central, developed section of Savannah to be a convenient place to live.
By the late 1860s, however, that all changed.
In 1867, council authorized the construction of a streetcar line – carriages pulled by horses or mules along a fixed track, and much later, electrically powered – and only two years later, the first line was in operation.
The Savannah, Skidaway and Suburban Railroad Company’s pioneer line, running between Bay and Anderson Streets, opened up the land south of the old district for residential development.
Now, middle class families who had formerly struggled to afford a house of their own could build cheaper houses on cheaper land further out, rather than cram into the multi-family houses that were all their money would buy in the established parts of town.
Single family houses on spacious lots – the suburban ideal – was an increasingly popular trend from the later decades of the 19th century, a reaction to the cramped and often diseased conditions to be found in many of America’s larger mid century cities.
Two other factors further increased the affordability of suburban housing in Savannah’s Victorian District.
Firstly, the anti-fire ordinances in place in the old section of the city, forbidding the construction of new wooden dwellings, did not apply there. Wood frame houses were much cheaper to build than brick or masonry structures, bringing a house of their own within the reach of a broader swathe of citizens.
Secondly, new institutions that offered home ownership loans on favorable terms – much the same principle as current mortgage lending – enabled people able to afford a little more than the rent would cost, but not the full upfront price of building a new house, to pay for their homes in installments.
In 1870, Savannah expanded its city limits to include the area down to Anderson Street, bringing much-needed water and gas services to that district.
The southern suburb began to develop more rapidly, the majority of construction taking place in the 1880s and 1890s. By the turn of the century, most of the lots had been filled, and the need for Savannah to expand into new territories in order to grow began to press once more.
References:
Historic Preservation Section of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Savannah Victorian District Design Guidelines: A Renovation Manual
National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey: Savannah Victorian Historic District