OurCoast.com -- Tours

Madison Square: St. John's Episcopal Church Parish House

From crenelated parapet to metal-studded portal, the design is Gothic and the mood medieval. First owner was cotton merchant Charles Green; John S. Norris was builder and architect. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman had headquarters here when Savannah surrendered to him toward the end of the Civil War. Sherman sent the following telegram to President Abraham Lincoln in December, 1864: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah..." A later owner was Judge Peter Meldrim, mayor of Savannah, and father of beautiful daughters. Toward the end of her long life, Sophie Meldrim Shonnard was still beautiful as she adjusted her pink boa in her apartment on Perry Street, asking just the right questions to make each guest feel special. The house became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. 14 West Macon Street.

--Visitor's Guide to Savannah

Madison Square
1. Sorrel-Weed House
(c.1841), 6 West Harris Street. Stuccoed building with welcoming-arms stairs at entrance.
2. St. John's Episcopal Church Parish House
(1863), 14 West Macon Street, also known as the Green-Meldrim House Museum. Medieval-styled architecture with unusual oriel windows.
3. St. John's Episcopal Church
Bull Street on Madison Square. Gothic church with connecting garden to parish house.
4. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
342 Bull Street. Romanesque red brick with up-ended cannon flanking the entrance, built as the Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory.
5. Eliza Jewitt House
(1843), 326 Bull Street, on Madison Square. Classical residence with bookstore on street level.
6. DeSoto Hilton Hotel
15 East Liberty Street. Modern hotel-office complex.

Map | Next Stop: Pulaski Square

Franklin Square
Johnson Square
Reynolds Square
Warren Square
Washington Square
Greene Square
Columbia Square
Oglethorpe Square
Wright Square
Telfair Square
Orleans Square
Chippewa Square
Colonial Park Cemetary
Troup Square
Lafayette Square
Madison Square
Pulaski Square
Monterey Square
Calhoun Square
Whitefield Square

Index of Tour