Washington Square (Savannah, Georgia)

Washington Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the northernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, on Houston Street and East St. Julian Street. It is east of Warren Square and north of Greene Square in the northeastern corner of the city's grid of squares, in Savannah's Old Fort neighborhood. The oldest building original to the square is 510 East St. Julian Street, which dates to 1797.^[1]

Built in 1790, Washington Square was named in 1791 for George Washington, the first president of the United States, who visited Savannah that year.^[2] It was one of only two squares named to honor a then-living person, Troup Square being the other.

Washington Square had been the site of the Trustees' Garden.^[3] Named for the trustees of General James Oglethorpe's colony, the garden was the testing ground for a variety of experimental crops – including mulberry (for silkworms), hemp, and indigo – viewed as potential cash crops. Most of these experiments proved unsuccessful.

The square was once the site of massive New Year's Eve bonfires; these were discontinued in the 1950s.^[4]

In 1964 Savannah landscape architect Clermont Huger Lee and Mills B. Lane planned and initiated a project to close the fire lane, add North Carolina bluestone pavers, initiate the use of different paving materials, install water cisterns, and lastly install new walks, benches, lighting, and plantings.^[5]

At 541–545 East Congress Street are three Joseph Burke Properties, built in 1860. They were restored in 1955 by preservationist Jim Williams (later the central character in John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), his first project of over fifty he undertook before his death in 1990^[6]

Namesake	Image	Note
George Washington		The square is named for George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States.

Each building below is in one of the eight blocks around the square composed of four residential "tything" blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks, now known as the Oglethorpe Plan. They are listed with construction years where known.

The "sister house" of the Hampton Lillibridge House, which was original the square, was built around the same time. It was demolished in 1962.^[10]

• 
  D.D. Williams House, 12 Price Street
• 
  William Williams House, 16 Price Street
• 
  William Wescott House, 36 Price Street
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  38 Price Street in its time as Tommie's Place deli
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  Stephen Timmons Cottage, 40 Price Street (now demolished)
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  Margaret Prindible Property, 508–512 East Bryan Street
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  Mary Gildea House, 514 East Bryan Street
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  Mary Horrigan Property, 520–522 East Bryan Street
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  Anne Pitman House, 504 East St. Julian Street
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  William Flood House, 501 East St. Julian Street
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  Hampton Lillibridge House, 507 East St. Julian Street
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  Morty Dorgan Property (1), 542 East St. Julian Street
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  Morty Dorgan Property (2), 20 Houston Street
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  Mary Ferguson House, 549 East St. Julian Street
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  Joseph Wilkinson House, 11 Houston Street
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  Simon Mirault House, 21 Houston Street
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  Joachim Hartstene House, 23 Houston Street
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  Catherine McCarthy Property, 26–30 Houston Street
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  Laurence Dunn Property (1), 31–33 Houston Street
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  Laurence Dunn Property (2), 35–37 Houston Street
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  Isabella Brower House, 519 East Congress Street
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  31 East Broad Street
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  James McMahon House, 37–39 East Broad Street
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  Charles Wood Row House, 41–47 East Broad Street
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  William Gaston House, 511 East Congress Street
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  Isabella Mallery House, 513 East Congress Street
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  Joseph Burke Properties, 543–545 East Congress Street
• 
  Ann Pinder House, 547 East Congress Street