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Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (James Moore Wayne House)

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1820, attributed to William Jay; 1886 additions, Detlef Lienau; 1993 restoration, Kolman and Smith, Architects; 2012–2014 restoration, Lott and Barber with Robert Silman Associates. 10 E. Oglethorpe Ave.

Attributed to Jay due to its striking similarity to the other four houses (2.19, 2.38, 5.6, and the Bulloch House, demolished 1916) he erected in Savannah, this residence commissioned by Savannah mayor Wayne (later a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice appointed by President Andrew Jackson) represents a bold departure from the local tradition of mansions facing a square by addressing, instead, the newly defined boulevard of South Broad Street. The design, originally two stories over a raised basement, reflects the abstract classicism of the period, where sculptural massing (such as the robust porch and the two apsidal projections at the rear) replaced detailed ornament. In 1886, the Gordon family, who had acquired the house from Wayne in 1831, commissioned New York City architect Lienau to add the third floor and the elaborate verandah on the east side. The house is renowned as the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, who in 1912 founded the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, which opened the house as a Girl Scout National Center in 1956. In that year, Savannah landscape architect Clermont Lee designed the house’s formal garden “in the style of 1860–1880” (as noted on her drawing); she revised her design in 1978. The 1993 restoration, carried out by Sterling Builders and Restoration, included a major structural upgrade to the interior staircase, which was reinforced with steel to support the thousands of annual visitors. The extensive recent restoration, carried out by J. T. Turner Construction, included replacing the non-porous cement stucco (which had replaced the original lime-based stucco in 1964), worn brownstone details, and metal brackets and soffit in the 1886 cornice.

Writing Credits

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

Robin B. Williams with David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler, "Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (James Moore Wayne House)", [Savannah, Georgia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/GA-02-2.25.

Print Source

Buildings of Savannah, Robin B. Williams. With David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016, 52-53.

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