The Telfair Academy is a historic mansion at 121 Barnard Street in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

. It was designed by William Jay and built in 1818, and is one of a small number of Jay's surviving works. It is one of three sites owned by

Telfair Museums Telfair Museums, in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, was the first public art museum in the Southern United States. Founded through the bequest of Mary Telfair (1791–1875), a prominent local citizen, and operated by the Georgia His ...

. Originally a family townhouse belonging to the Telfair family, it became a free art museum in 1886, and thus one of the first 10 art museums in America, and the oldest public art museum in the South. Its first director, elected in 1883, was artist Carl Ludwig Brandt, who spent winters in Savannah. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1976. and

Architecture and history

Telfair Academy is located in historic central Savannah, on the west side of Telfair Square. It occupies an entire block, bounded by Barnard, West President, North Jefferson, and West State Streets. It is a two-story masonry structure, built out of brick finished in stucco. Its entrance is a form typical of architect William Jay, with a projecting four-column portico that is accessed via side-facing stairs. The columns are of a composite order, and the portico's entablature is continued around the building as a stringcourse. Unlike the symmetrical exterior, the interior of the house is asymmetrical, its unusually shaped rooms including an octagonal drawing room, round-ended dining room, and long drawing room with rounded ends. The building's west wing is its former carriage house, which was adapted in the 1880s as part of the building's conversion to a museum, and has fine

Adam style The Adam style (also called Adamesque or the Style of the Brothers Adam) is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and ...

woodwork. The house was designed by William Jay and built in 1818 for Alexander Telfair, son of

Edward Telfair Edward Telfair (1735 – September 17, 1807) was a Scottish-born American Founding Father, politician and slave trader who served as the governor of Georgia from 1786 to 1787 and again from 1790 to 1793. He was a member of the Continental Congre ...

, one of Georgia's early post-independence governors. The site on which it was built previously housed the official residence of Georgia's colonial royal governors. In 1875 Alexander's sister,

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

, bequeathed the house, including its furnishings and family collections, to the Georgia Historical Society, which opened the first art museum in the southeastern United States here in 1886. The house was remodeled and expanded to be a museum by architect

Detlef Lienau Detlef Lienau (17 February 1818 – 29 August 1887) was a German architect born in Holstein. He is credited with having introduced the Rococo, French style to American building construction, notably the mansard roof and all its decorative flourish ...

Collection

Telfair Academy features furnished period rooms that highlight the museum's collection of

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

and many family furnishings including beautiful 19th and 20th century American and European paintings and sculptures. In front of the building are statues of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

Phidias Phidias or Pheidias (; , ''Pheidias''; ) was an Ancient Greek sculptor, painter, and architect, active in the 5th century BC. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the statues of ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

, and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

(see the link to Commons below).

Savannah artists

In addition to these works from notable European and American artists, Telfair Academy houses fine and decorative artworks representing Savannah's history and from native Savannah artists. *

Myrtle Jones Myrtle Jones (January 23, 1913 – February 15, 2005) was an artist whose paintings commonly featured streetscapes and architecture of Savannah, Georgia, as well as portraits. Jones was born in Winder, Forsyth County, Georgia Forsyth Cou ...

- self-taught streetscape and portrait painter; studied briefly at the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences under Emil Holzhauer and others. * Frederick Marquand- silversmith and President of

Marquand and Co Marquand may refer to: Surnames * Allan Marquand (1853–1924), American art historian * Christian Marquand (1927–2000), French director, actor and screenwriter * David Marquand (1934–2024), British academic and politician * Henry Gurdon Marqu ...

.; worked in Savannah, and moved to

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, Connecticut where he was instrumental in the founding of noted special collections institution

Pequot Library The Pequot Library is a public association library, association and :Rare book libraries in the United States, special collections library in Southport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1887, and opened in 1894 with financial and organizational su ...

Photos

File:Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA, US, historical marker.jpg, historical marker File:Telfair Academy, Savannah, GA, US, 2018.jpg, Telfair Academy in 2018 File:Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA, US, original room.jpg, Room in the original house part of Telfair Academy File:Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA, US, inside 1.jpg, Inside Telfair Academy File:Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA, US, inside 2.jpg, Inside Telfair Academy

References

External links