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Smokestack (Central of Georgia Railroad)

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1855; 1992 restoration, David Philips. Behind the Roundhouse (7.1.7)

The 123-foot-tall smokestack is the most richly ornamented element of the repair complex, not surprising given its landmark prominence. The polygonal shaft of the stack with its flared mouth evokes the form of a fluted classical column. In addition to exhausting smoke from the site, it provided a natural draft for the powerhouse boiler and the forges of the blacksmith shop. Surrounding the stack is a 40,000-gallon cast-iron water tank decorated with Perpendicular Gothic tracery that was cast at the D. and W. Rose Foundry in Savannah. The tank supplied water to the powerhouse boiler and to each stall of the roundhouse, preheated to some extent by the hot exhaust of the central flue. The sixteen brick barrel vaults supporting the tank housed latrines that were also ventilated by the stack and emptied into a sewer line directly below. The partial demolition of the prominent top of the stack in the 1960s prompted locals to call for the site’s preservation.

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, "Smokestack (Central of Georgia Railroad)", [Savannah, Georgia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/GA-02-7.1.10.

Print Source

Buildings of Savannah, Robin B. Williams. With David Gobel, Patrick Haughey, Daves Rossell, and Karl Schuler. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016, 131-131.

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