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Photo: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
City Market is a mixed-use project in the northwest corner of the Historic District. The rehabilitation of the four-block area began in 1985. The result is a facility that economically could not be replicated today. City Market has established itself as a destination for entertainment, dining, and retailing in downtown Savannah. To create an anchor attraction that would attract both tourists and Savannah residents, the developer emulated its successful Torpedo Factory project in Alexandria, Virginia and established the Art Center at City Market. This group of working studios for artists occupies approximately 19000 sqft of space and has created an opportunity for other tenants of City Market to establish and operate viable food, entertainment, and retail businesses. In addition, City Market has three apartments and approximately 11000 sqft of office space. Ellis Square is immediately west of City Market and has an interactive fountain, information kiosk & an underground 1,100-space parking garage making it very easy to park in the heart of the historic & tourist area.
City Market is a historic market complex in the Historic District of Savannah, Georgia. Originally centered on the site of today's Ellis Square from 1733, today it stretches west from Ellis Square to Franklin Square. 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. "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. 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. It was an ornate structure with arches in the Romanesque style and large circular windows.
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This square is on Montgomery Street between Congress and Bryan Streets. It was named for Benjamin Franklin who had been the Georgia Colony's agent in London. It was laid out in 1791 and for many years the City's water tower was here so it was referred to as Water Tower or Reservoir Square. The First African Baptist Church is on the West side of the square and the end of the City Market complex is on the East side. Franklin Square was restored in the 1980s, the same time period when the City Market complex was built.
This square is one of the original four squares, laid out in 1733. It was also referred to as Marketplace Square because that was its use. The square was named for Henry Ellis, second Royal Governor. Unfortunately, in 1954, this entire square, on Barnard Street between W. Bryan and W. Congress Streets, was covered by a city parking garage. This parking garage was torn down in 2007 and is being replaced by an underground parking structure, Savannah's first, with Ellis Square restored on top.
The Telfair Museum of Art traces its history from 1886 when the Telfair family home opened to the public as an art museum and school. Now composed of three buildings: the original Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences building, a National Historic Landmark; the Owens-Thomas House, also a National Historic Landmark; and the Jepson Center for the Arts.Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie, the Jepson Center for the Arts is a state-of-the-art museum facility, featuring expanded gallery spaces, expanded educational resources, much-needed art storage facilities, sculpture gardens, an auditorium, café and museum store.Over the years the Telfair has become an invaluable confluence of arts, culture and history that reaches out to its audience through a diverse schedule of exhibitions and programs. Among the city's most-visited attractions, the museum is even more popular with the 2006 opening of its third venue, the Jepson Center for the Arts.
From 1733 to 1883, this square was named St. James Square and was one of the most fashionable residential areas. It was renamed to honor Edward Telfair, three-time governor of Georgia (1786-1792) and his family. Located on Barnard Street between York and State Streets.
This is one of two lost squares. It was located on Montgomery Street in front of the present County Courthouse. It was laid out in 1799 and named to celebrate the freedom and independence gained through the Revolution and to honor the "Sons of Liberty" who had fought for independence. The "Flame of Freedom" is now on this site.
A former power plant that was decommissioned and redeveloped. Opened in 2020, a J. W. Marriott hotel anchors the development with a publicly-accessible lobby called Generator Hall featuring shops, restaurants, and a large collection of minerals and geodes on display. Other amenities along River Street include a splash pad, several outdoor covered restaurants and stores, a bust of Martin Luther King Jr., and a concert venue. Tours of Generator Hall are available at 11AM and 2PM by request.