One evening last week, I stopped by to see the status of the demolition of several dozen homes in Meldrim Row.
The cottages were modest, but they were rich in history. That history has been discussed in considerable detail in this newspaper in recent months, so I won’t try to recap it here.
On the night I was there, all of the homes on the north side of 34th Street between Montgomery Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard had been demolished although the land had not been entirely cleared. There were large piles of broken wood siding and some even larger piles of beautiful old bricks.
Near the middle of the block, one solid chimney was still standing, surrounded by rubble. The sheer weight of that chimney spoke volumes.
There was some pretty fine homebuilding in the decades after the Civil War.
If I were a different type of columnist, I would try to conjure the image of an African American laborer in the late 1800s telling his children about his liberation from slavery, but I will leave such stories to the poets.
I’ve seen numerous comments in recent months about the deplorable condition of the cottages that are being demolished, but such comments have generally come from those who arrived late to the debate.
Demolition by neglect began as soon as the city of Savannah expressed interest in the property many months ago. Before the sale was finalized, the doomed homes were being cannibalized for materials for repairs on the Meldrim Row cottages west of MLK.
For weeks before and after the city closed the deal, many of the vacant homes were unsecured and at the mercy of the elements and vagrants.
Those who saw nothing but slums overlooked the solid rooflines and the sound 19th century construction.
Preservationists can claim a small victory in the decision to save an especially impressive two-story home at the southeast corner of MLK and West 34th Street.
Of course, it’s worth noting the preservation of that home is forcing city staffers to change the conceptual plan for the new Central Precinct. That one home was in a row that would have been replaced by a reconfigured 34th Street.
Saving that home could result in closing 34th Street, which would be bad news for neighborhood connectivity, especially since 33rd Street is already slated for closure.
Planners could decide to leave 34th Street open for public use, but that would be a tacit admission that the precinct never required 1.6 contiguous acres in the first place.
However the site is eventually configured, the demolition of the cottages will make a few things clear.
First, it will be obvious even to a casual observer just how large the Meldrim Row site is. The current
Central Precinct building is clearly inadequate, but the existing structure and its off-street parking occupy less than half an acre. The new site will be four to five times larger.
I live next door to the current precinct, and the parking lot is nowhere near full for many hours each day. The building is dark most of the night, the front door locked.
Now that all or most of the cottages have been demolished, it will also be easier to see the blighted blocks both north and south of Meldrim Row. Those blocks are dotted with vacant lots and empty buildings, most of which have no historical significance.
At some point in the construction of the new precinct, someone in a position of power is also going to realize that the MLK streetscape will soon require costly modification.
The new precinct has been touted as a boon to public safety in the Cuyler-Brownsville neighborhood, which lies west of MLK, but a cruiser would have to drive several blocks out of the way just to get across the street. For blocks at a time, there isn’t even a safe spot for a pedestrian to get from one side of the boulevard to the other.
And, within a decade, I’m betting that something else will be obvious.
The Metropolitan neighborhood is rapidly changing — many would say gentrifying — and the city’s decision to destroy inexpensive housing is only going to speed that process along.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.
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By Bill Dawers