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Drayton Tower is a modern monolith in the heart of the historic district.
Now, the landmark apartment building is slated to join the hallowed historic ranks of its neighbors.
Drayton Tower was among four local properties added Friday to the Georgia Register of Historic Places. Placement on the state register is a precursor to joining the national register, America’s official list of historic properties deemed worthy of preservation.
“We were originally attracted to the Drayton Tower project in part because of its unique historic status as an important example of Mid-century modern architecture in a city noted for its historic buildings and neighborhoods,” said Ken Copeland, a principal in Drayton Tower’s New York-based owner, FLANK. “We felt it is important that Drayton be given its historic due alongside Savannah’s earlier important historic structures.”
Tybee’s Beach View Bed and Breakfast, a property still widely known by its former moniker, the Hunter House, also joined the state register. So did three local neighborhoods that make up two historic districts: Pine Gardens, located off President Street east of downtown; and Kensington Park-Groveland, neighboring subdivisions stretching along Derenne Avenue between Waters Avenue and Abercorn Street.
The two buildings and two districts are all but assured of gaining national register status in the coming months, according to Lynn Speno, a national register and survey specialist.
Placement of a property or a district on the state and national registers is largely an honorary designation. Beach View owner Karen Kelly, who bought the property in 2011, said striving for historic register status in restoring the large cottage was “a matter of being a good steward. However, she did acknowledge her hope that the designation will help the inn attract visitors interested in staying in historic properties.
“I believe that we should be taking more and more of our properties and restoring them and saving them instead of tearing them down,” said Kelly, whose personal residence is around the corner from the Beach View. “I love this house. The only reason we are a B and B is we have to pay for it.”
National register status also allows property owners to apply for federal and state tax incentives. The Beach View and Drayton Tower both underwent extensive renovations in the last two years, and their owners could benefit from taking a restoration approach and using materials in the work.
Pine Gardens’ neighborhood leaders are hoping register-related access to government grants and tax incentives will spur revitalization of vacant houses and commercial buildings in their district.
National register status will also provide a small measure of protection for the properties and the districts in the case of government projects, such as road widenings and infrastructure improvements, according to Historic Savannah Foundation CEO Daniel Carey.
That protection could prove valuable to the two districts. Pine Gardens and Kensington Park-Groveland are all located along major roadways.
Residents of the Fairway Oaks, located across Waters Avenue from Kensington Park-Groveland, used the neighborhood’s national register status to “get a seat at the table” during planning to widen DeRenne.
“National register status won’t stop a project but allows for a reasonable timeout,” Carey said. “It does ensure there will be meaningful dialogue, and in all likelihood, the project planners will take mitigating measures.”
National register status would also be a nod to the historical significance of the two districts.
Pine Gardens was built in the 1940s to house boatbuilders working on the “Liberty Ships” — World War II supply vessels — in the shipyard across President Street. Kensington Park and Groveland, meanwhile, were among the first Savannah neighborhoods designed for the automobile, marked by curvilinear streets.
“The status is prestigious and will help remind the rest of Savannah of the historical significance of this neighborhood,” longtime Pine Gardens resident Patricia Lennox Jenkins said.
GEORGIA REGISTER NEWCOMERS
Two Savannah-area neighborhoods and two buildings were added to the Georgia Register of Historic Places by a review board Friday.
BUILDINGS
Drayton Arms Apartments
Now known as Drayton Tower, the 12-story building is located at the corner of Liberty and Drayton streets and is an instantly recognizable downtown landmark. Drayton Tower features a distinctive green glass and white limestone façade. The building dates to 1951 but was recently restored by FLANK, a New York developer.
“The building is an excellent example of the International Style of architecture and retains many of the features and finishes that characterize the style,” read Drayton Tower’s Georgia Register nomination.
Bordley Cottage/Beach View Hotel
Now known as the Beach View Bed and Breakfast, the house is located on Tybee Island’s Butler Avenue. The Beach View features a wrap-around porch and brick piers on the façade.
The cottage dates to 1910 and was designed as a seasonal residence. A fireplace was added in 1944 as part of a conversion to a year-round hotel. The building became an upscale restaurant, named the Hunter House, in the late-1980s. Karen Kelly bought the cottage in 2011. It reopened as a bed and breakfast on Jan. 1, 2012.
NEIGHBORHOODS
Kensington Park-Groveland
Two of the first Savannah subdivisions built south of Derenne Avenue, Kensington Park and Groveland are residential neighborhoods laid out in 1950. The street plan is among the first in Savannah designed for the automobile, with wide, curvilinear roads, many lined with live oak trees.
Most of the homes in both neighborhoods are ranch style. Both Kensington Park and Groveland include recreational parks. Kensington Park features a community pool and bathhouse dating to 1960. Both neighborhoods were built out in 1965.
Pine Gardens
The neighborhood grew out of a demand for housing from shipbuilders. Located adjacent to the old Southeastern Shipbuilding yard east of downtown along President Street, Pine Gardens’ residents built the Liberty ships, supply vessels used throughout World War II.
The neighborhood features roughly 500 “Victory Cottages” – small frame houses set on small lots. The four- and five-room houses line long, straight streets with even setbacks. Many of the homes feature front porches and picture windows.
The neighborhood also includes 12 business spaces, a church, school and firehouse and was the first planning community in Savannah to include a commercial center.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
What it does:
• IDs historically significant buildings, sites, districts, etc.
• Encourages preservation of historic properties
• Provides information about historic resources for planning purposes
• Assists government agencies in determining whether projects will impact historic properties
• Makes property owners eligible for federal historic preservation grants
• Provides federal and state tax benefits
What it does not do:
• Restrict the rights of private property owners.
• Require properties be maintained, repaired or restored.
• Invoke local historic district zoning.
• Stop federal or state assisted development projects.
• Guarantee grant funds.
• Require property owners to follow preservation standards.
Source: Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division