Architecture of Savannah
by: Gail Lang

Another variety of art that seems almost limitless here is that which was executed in wrought iron. It's in evidence almost everywhere you look. Savannah is renowned for incorporating more wrought iron work within its boundaries than any other city in America. The picture shown is of a window adorned by decorative iron grillwork made to resemble sunflowers. It is fascinating to stroll along the streets and alleyways and look at all the wonderful designs on the homes and public buildings. One of the buildings is the heaviest building in America per square inch. (It's the red brick one in the frame to the left.) All of the white on the structure is not concrete, but iron. Its' original tenant was the owner of the foundry in Savannah, perhaps he envisioned his home as a showpiece for the versatility of his company's products.

The graceful Victorian home pictured on the right is a perfect example of the contrasts in Savannah that I noted before. Surrounded by structures heavy with brick and wrought iron, it sits primly and demurely in all its airy and simple beauty, like a proper lady in the midst of well-mannered but sombre soldiers.

Another "singular" building that stands out is the IRS tax building. How such a building came to be constructed in America's largest urban historic district is beyond my imagination. Out of a sea of venerable antiquities lunges this tall ponderous leviathan that in many aspects resembles..... well, the inside of a lavatory. A fish out of water, but yet another contrast that makes Savannah the city it is. The piece of art that is directly in front of this building deserves a mention too. (You can see it more clearly on the larger image - click the IRS building.) It's a columnar structure of sorts, known to the locals as "The IRS Shaft."

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