Among the most picturesque buildings in the city, these warehouses built for cotton merchant William Taylor are unique in Savannah in being constructed mostly with rubble masonry of ballast stones. Their steep roofs reflect the form of the city’s early warehouses. The older, eastern portion of the building encroaches on the Barnard Street “Public Dock,” as noted in a 1817 map at the Chatham County Land Records office (Book 2G, p. 299). The adjacent warehouses (1852–1854, Sholl and Fay) across the ramp at 112–130 W. Bay Street display fine craftsmanship and high-quality materials (cast iron and imported hard-pressed red brick) facing the city which dramatically contrast the taller utilitarian elevation facing the river. The building’s adaptive reuse as the Cotton Sail Hotel (2013–2014, Dawson Architects) included a boldly modernistic rooftop addition inspired by industrial architecture and reflects the rapid influence of the Bohemian Hotel (see 1.11). The warehouse (1910) to the west at 214 W. Bay Street was the last erected on the historic Savannah waterfront.
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William Taylor Stores
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