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A number of years ago, two blighted houses marred Barnard Street just north of 40th Street.
They were gorgeous old buildings that sat further back from the street than many other historic homes in the neighborhood, and they had especially graceful architectural details.
Both homes were also vacant and crumbling.
A neighbor routinely reported that the properties were being used for illicit purposes by drug dealers and users and by prostitutes and johns.
That’s an especially graphic example of blight at its worst. A few blighted properties can have a devastating impact on an entire neighborhood.
Eventually, both of those lovely old homes on Barnard Street were demolished. That wasn’t necessarily a good result, but it was better than the alternative of letting them continue to rot.
To their credit, Savannah city officials have amped up the fight with the Blight to Bright campaign and recently published a list of the 100 Worst Properties. Some of those properties were nominated by citizens, and some have long been on the radar screen of city staff.
Interestingly, there is just one property in the Landmark Historic District on the city’s list of the 100 most blighted properties. In some respects, that fact is a testament to the preservation work already accomplished north of Gwinnett Street.
Historic buildings in the Landmark District can still face neglect and can be imperiled by development, like the controversial property at 240 W. Broughton St., but the center of gravity for the local preservation movement has shifted.
Let’s hope we can find a way to preserve rather than demolish the building at 602 Montgomery St., the one property in the Historic District that made the city’s list.
The two-story commercial building on the southeast corner of Montgomery and Huntingdon streets was sturdily constructed of brick and has evident historic details.
Over the years, I’ve known a few people who have eyed the lovely old structure as a possible site for a bar or restaurant, but the lot size seems problematic. The building
once was home to a takeout Chinese restaurant, but it has been vacant for many years.
I’m going to keep an eye on that property and some of the others the city has identified. I’ll delve more fully into that list in an upcoming City Talk.
A correction
In last Sunday’s column about The Grey, a restaurant opening later this fall in the old Greyhound depot on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, I misidentified the owner of the New York City restaurant Prune.
Gabrielle Hamilton owns Prune and is the author of “Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef.”
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.
