You are here

William Taylor Stores

-A A +A
c. 1817; later additions. 202–206 W. Bay St.

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.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Robin B. Williams with David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler
×

Data

What's Nearby

Citation

Robin B. Williams with David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler, "William Taylor Stores", [Savannah, Georgia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/GA-02-1.12.

Print Source

Buildings of Savannah, Robin B. Williams. With David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016, 30-31.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,