By Eric Curl
Jan. 10, 2023 – The owner of a warehouse in downtown Savannah is seeking to remove the building’s protected historic designation so that the early-1950s-era structure can be demolished and replaced with single-family residential units.
The petition going before the Savannah Historic District Board of Review on Wednesday comes about 13 years after the building at 301 Alice St. was added as a contributing resource, along with more than 100 other buildings, according to the staff report. (Owner Ralph Anderson, contends he wasn’t notified of the change at the time, while review board staff say they have found the notification letters that were sent out.)
Anderson, who reportedly uses the space as a construction office and has been involved in local historic renovation project, also found that the building was not built in the 1940s, as the 2010 designation documentation claimed. Also, Anderson, contends, along with some supportive neighbors, that building does not fit within the historic residential landscape.
Anderson’s submitted petition says that the structure was constructed from common, mass-produced materials and does not meet the criteria to be a contributing historic structure. In addition, the structure has not maintained much of its original materials, including the original wood carriage-style double doors, which have been replaced with modern rolling service doors, according to the petition.
Review board staff disagrees and is recommending denial of the petition, finding that the building is structurally intact and still falls within the local district’s period of significance, 1733-1960. The building was found by staff to fit within the context of of early auto related structures from the early to mid-1900s that “blended into the urban landscape in a manner that contributed to, rather than detracted from the larger urban setting.”
Staff’s review also found that the city’s ordinance does not provide the board with the authority to remove a building’s historic designation. As a result, the petition would have to go before the Savannah City Council to approve the change. The board can only make a recommendation.
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