By Eric Curl

April 24, 2001 update – The case’s temporary administrator filed a motion on April 14 to sell the Kiah house, reporting that he has signed a sales contract with Historic Savannah Foundation for the price of $60,000. “The temporary administrator believes this price is fair and that this buyer will respect the lineage and character of the property. Several of the heirs of Ms. Kiah have mentioned their desire to preserve her former home in recognition of her contributions to the community. Further, it is noted the sales price is in excess of the Assessor’s fair market value of $48,0000.”

Feb. 19, 2021 – With the goal of rehabilitating Virginia Jackson Kiah’s home, Historic Savannah Foundation officials say they entered a contract in July last year to purchase the long-vacant and deteriorating property that the late artist, educator and Civil Rights activist once operated as a community museum.

But the purchase is being held up by the ongoing two-decade-old Chatham County Probate Court case regarding Kiah’s estate, said CEO and President Susan Adler.

“It’s got to get through the process,” Adler said.

Initiated by a guardianship petition in 1999, two years before Kiah’s death at age 90, the estate case remains unresolved as Kiah’s vacant home at the center of the case deteriorates. The 106-year-old home was recently included on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2021 list of ‘Places in Peril.’

Kiah’s nephew, Michael Bowen Mitchell said in January that the family supports HSF’s plan to purchase and restore the home, which they cannot afford to do themselves, with the caveat that the home be restored for use once again as a museum.

“We would not be in support of the house being used as a residence,” Mitchell said. “The whole idea is to preserve my aunt’s history in Savannah.”

HSF agrees that a private residence would not be the best use for the house, said Ryan Arvay, HSF’s director of preservation and historic properties. However, the foundation’s immediate concern is getting the building secured to prevent further deterioration, Arvay said. Once that is achieved, they can take a much harder look at what purpose the building should serve,  Arvay said.

“We would love it to be something that serves the community,” he said.

Built in 1915, the house at 505 W. 36th St. was transformed into a community museum in the late 1950s by Kiah and her husband, Calvin Kiah, a former Dean of Education at Savannah State College. 

If HSF is able to purchase the property, they will have to consider what period of significance to restore the home to, Arvay said. Kiah made significant modifications to the home for it to better serve as a museum, including the removal of the ceiling in the front parlor and installation of two-story tall windows on the front of the house. Arvay said he thinks it makes more sense to restore it to the 1950s period when she lived there than to take it back to the original design.

“I think her connection with the building is what makes it significant today,” he said. 

The modifications Kiah made to the property were what prevented it from being included on the list of contributing properties when the Cuyler Brownville neighborhood was designated a local historic district.

The property’s non-contributing status means that if any other buyer were to come forward to buy the building they would be technically allowed to demolish it, Arvay said. With HSF owning the property, Arvay said it would be protected.

“We’re really on a rescue mission right now,” he said.

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