William Jay was one of Savannah's most noted architects of the 19th century, known for his Greek-Revival-style Georgian architecture.
A native of England, Jay came to Savannah as a young man. In the few years he lived in the city, he produced designs for the houses of several of the city's wealthiest residents, besides a few public buildings.
Several of the buildings he designed survive to this day, including the Telfair House (later remodeled and redeveloped as the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences), the Owens-Thomas House and the Scarbrough House, now the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum.
Though William Jay was not prolific, his architecture is regarded as some of the most accomplished in Savannah. One of the first professionally-trained architects to work in America, he was also one of the earliest practitioners of the Greek Revival style in Georgia.
William Jay's Life And Career
William Jay was born in Bath, England, in the early 1790s (most probably, argues his biographer, Hanna Lerski, in 1793). He was the second child and first son of the well-known non-conformist cleric William Jay and his wife Ann Davis.
Jay obtained his architectural training in London under the tutelage of David Ridal Roper. A decade after his move to London, made in his early teens, Jay emigrated to the United States, sailing from Liverpool late in 1817.
He was introduced to Savannah's wealthiest and most influential families through his association with Richard Richardson, who brought Jay to the city to work on his own house, now known as the Owens-Thomas House, on Oglethorpe Square.
Jay worked in Savannah from 1818-1820, thereafter taking work in Charleston, and later traveling to Europe. He returned to England in the second half of 1822, his finances apparently in poor state.
In 1827, Jay married Louisa Coulson in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. In 1829, he was declared bankrupt. By the mid-1830s, Jay had scarcely recovered his financial situation, enough suitable work in England apparently hard to come by, and was obliged to accept a low-paying government job in Mauritius.
Jay, Louisa and their several children arrived on the island in 1836. Within a year, Jay had died of a fever.
Surviving Works In Savannah
- The Owens-Thomas House, built for Richard Richardson and completed in 1819, was Jay's first major work in Savannah.
- Jay designed the Scarbrough House for William Scarbrough, a chief investor in the SS Savannah, first ship to cross the Atlantic under partial steam power. The house was completed by 1819, in time to receive President James Monroe during his vist to Savannah as a part of his tour of the southern states.
- The Telfair House, now the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences was designed for Alexander Telfair. Completed in 1819, the house was substantially modified in 1883 (according to the designs of Detlef Lienau) during its conversion to a museum .
Lost Works In Savannah
- The Bank of the United States, 1821-1822, was also commissioned by Jay's first Savannah employer, Richard Richardson. The widely-known, imposingly-porticoed building was demolished in 1924.
- The 1818 Savannah Theatre, on Chippewa Square, was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The theater is still in operation today, one of the oldest continuously-operating theaters in the country.
- The fourth of Jay's (confirmed) great Savannah houses was the Archibald Bulloch House, formerly on Orleans Square. The house was demolished in 1915, becoming the parking lot for the new City Auditorium.
- The Savannah Free School building, 1820, formerly at Whitaker and Perry Streets, was destroyed by fire in 1852.
References
Hanna Hryniewiecka Lerski, William Jay: Itinerant English Architect, 1792-1837