The History of The Presidents' Quarters Inn
History
No fanfare announced the triumphant acquisition in April 2007 of The Presidents’ Quarters, a small trophy hotel in downtown Savannah, built on British-Colonial Georgia’s Trust Lots in the heart of the world-renown Landmark Historic District of Savannah.
Converted to leisure lodging in 1987, The Presidents’ Quarters pioneered the bed-and-breakfast development of Historic Savannah, giving guests time for some recreational “time travel.” With the added bonus of courtyard gardens and private balconies, guests enjoy Savannah’s world-famous beauty and temperate out-of-doors weather year around.
Energized by its past, the downtown Savannah hotel in Savannah Georgia gives a nod to its very civilized pedigree. On the Trust Lots overlooking Oglethorpe Square (formerly Upper New Square), the family home (ca. 1752) of the Georgia colony’s first Royal Governor, John Reynolds was built. Earlier, a fort was posted along the colony’s palisades that ran roughly along today’s President Street (formerly King Street, prior to the American Revolutionary War).
In 1855 the estate of the prominent William Washington Gordon, whose monument rests in Wright Square, and George W. Anderson (once owner of Lebanon Plantation now on the National Register of Historic Places) bought the double trust lot on Oglethorpe Square for $1,900 and built twin townhouses for $7,600. Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of America was the second of six children born to William Washington Gordon and Eleanor Lytle Kinzie Gordon.
These twin townhomes offered Savannah’s most prominent citizens the unforgettable, large elegant rooms of the Federal Style mansion. Here, in 1870, General Andrew Lawton, charge d’affaires to the Court of Vienna, received the eminent General Robert E. Lee.
The Savannah Inn’s prominent neighbors on quiet Oglethorpe Square include the renowned Telfair Museum Owens-Thomas House, the Chatham-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission, Savannah College of Art and Design (named by U.S. News & World Report a Top College in America) administrative offices, and private residences.
