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Actually, the “Victorian” movement in America reflected a more sinister reminder of European elitism and gross emphasis on class, education and privilege. In Savannah’s case, those tendencies were reflected by the mid 1800s in outrageousely ornamented and over-sized homes, most often built by extremely wealthy cotton-brokers using slave labor. It was as if the cotton elite class wanted to make up for their origins. Most of them could trace their family roots back to debtor prisons in England. Could it be that they wanted the very things their ancestors were denied?

At least Bauhaus architects rejected “bourgeois” details such as cornices, eaves and decorative details. They wanted to use principles of Classical architecture in their most pure form: without ornamentation of any kind.

The Bauhaus school disbanded when the Nazis rose to power.

We need to put the Drayton Tower in perspective. It is truely American with roots in Bauhaus. I hold that it reflects better values than the Victorian model so often admired by visitors.

For a better understanding of the true evil of American Victorianism, read Robert Persig’s “Lila”.

Drew… Here is the Persig quote I was looking for after I read your post on the Drayton Tower:

“Victorians in America, Pirsig’s label for the post-Civil War nouveau riche,

“Always took themselves seriously, and the thing they took most seriously

of all was their code of morality…Smug posing was the essence of their

style…For them the pose was quality. Quality was the social corset, the

ornamental cast iron. It was a quality of manners and egoism and

suppression of human decency. When Victorians were being moral,

kindness wasn’t anywhere in sight.”

From Robert Pirsig’s “Lila”

Drew, I’m with you. That building totally doesn’t fit it with the rest of our fair city. I remember having a conversation with an architect friend shortly after I moved here. We were talking about some of the different buildings in town and I asked him about that hideous looking building down by Liberty Street.

He told me Drayton Towers is in the historic register or some such because it is representative of an architectural period. Ugh! I hope that doesn’t mean that it can’t be taken down one day.

No, Chris, it cannot be taken down now with permission from the government. That is my understanding. And Phillip. WOW! I would not even dare to include D.T. to Bauhaus at all. Yes, it does lack ornamentation. It is square. It is not pretentious. It utelizes concrete and glass in a style similar to Bauhaus. But I would liken it more to a leftover Art Deco facade without the budget. It seems to truly be Bauhaus without intelligence, Modernism without curviture and style, postmodernism without color, and a couple other periods. It is just an eyesore and although it may hold better values and more ethics than the Victorian (itself a catchall word) structures in Savannah, it is not representative of a city so rich in architecture. If it looked more like the Towers in Chicago or like Dulles Airport in Washington I might change my tune. But all empirialistic motives aside? It is hideous. Let’s protect it no more!

Actually, D.T. is International Style, the Americanized version of Bauhaus which is generally accepted to be European. International was popular in the period from 1949-to about 1953. While the best examples of International are in Chicago, there are few if any reminders of the style south of the Mason-Dixon line. That fact alone makes the the 1951 D.T. remarkable.

Secondly, it amazes me the lack of outrage over the burgeoning construction of hotels/inns in Savannah lacking in any general style other than a feeble attempt to make the new buildings “fit in”. As Chris suggests, “fitting in” may be acceptable to some people — but not to me. Bigger architectural disasters are being foisted on our city without applying the wrecking ball (and thus leaving a cavernous hollow across from the already depressing subsitute for the once magnificent DeSoto Hotel) to the beloved D.T.

Let me offer a few glaring cases in point:

Kessler’s new stab at faux retro condominiums adjacent to the beautiful Georgian Federal Davenport House on State Street. This sorry waste of brick makes immortal the lack of taste and dearth of creativity on the part of the developer. It certainly does not hold a candle to the neighboring Kehoe House nor any building within a mile. On the other hand, Drayton Tower was constructed much in the spirit of its time - not unlike the way the new Jepson Center reflects its contemporary style. Its authentic and that is the power of the building.

Take a closer look at the monstrosities being installed along Bay Street in the name of adding convention rooms if you really want to see the bleakness of capitalistic tendencies!

On the other hand, the chic and cheesy mosaics on the City Building on Broughton Street across from the Ambrosia have a hipness factor to them and harken to the early 60s days of peace and strange mushrooms. Most cities would have plowed down this building and the 50ish SCAD Library as well as the hippest motel in town, the Thuderbird, many years ago. Fortunately, Savannah has a “cool” factor that has saved these buildings as well as the Drayton Tower from being plowed under in the name of “fitting in”. Fitiing in to what? the opulent greed of the 1850’s? Be real.

Drayton Tower is here to stay. The challenge of taking this building back to its glory days with any degree of authenticity is daunting. But if that is its only crime, let the jury find it innocent.

Better we restore it authentically than to let the “Fit In & Facade” crowd have their way with some new disaster passed of as “compatible”.

Savannah is about the extraordinary demension of its architectural inventory — not its limitation to the “fit.”

Did I mention the Hyatt Regency? Now THERE is a real fit for ya. Right. Also I said, “Thuderbird” when I meant Thunderbird.

You’ve nailed it Phillip. I can’t compete with your argument as it is compelling and true. Part of what makes Savannah great is the dichotomy of it all. Hard to believe that within 11 miles you can travel nearly 200 miles in history just through architecture. We about near have it all; tacky, refined, opulent, simple, and cool. Like you I am a bit disgusted by the sorry condos being put up that even in the right light don’t mimic the real thing. The price tags are ridiculous and they are starting to make a mockery of Savannah. All we need now it piped in music coming from speakers buried in trees and we will be a regular Celebration, Florida. Let us celebrate D.T. for all its bleakness and authenticity.

And the Thunderbird? Not only cool but also the only hotel worth the nightly rate!

[…] Did anyone know that this past Saturday was the Oatland Island Annual Cane Grinding and Harvest Festival? Yeah, neither did I. Man, how do we find out about these events. Surely they advertised somewhere. The best I could find was the Oatland Island website (which leaves a bit to be desired) and a mention in SavannahNOW. I would have loved to have gone. There is nothing like celebrating our state through its rich agricultural heritage. Generations of my family have been brought up eating biscuits with cane syrup. Not to mention the pieces of toast I have eaten literally smothered with Apple Butter. Anyway. I hope someone got to check out this event. And please, please, please, please…if you know of something that we can throw up on the site here, let us know! We can’t talk about Drayton every day! […]

Ahh, Drayton Towers. So not Charleson’s Drayton Hall but certainly a shining bit of East Berlin right here at home.

I lived in Apt. 500 from 1988 to 1989 in a time when SCAD leased it as a dorm for mostly freshmen. The other lease was part(or so was my understanding), of a Georgia Regional program in where they set the newly released to try to enter them back into functioning as citizens. Yes, Van Gogh himself couldn’t have asked for a better mix—art students, occasional drag queen and “the recently released.” So yes, it was hard to tell who the crazies were. But it was also hard to beat the price, an all inclusive utilities place for around $350 a month for a studio apartment.

Drayton Towers is where I met my first serious girlfriend whom was a neighbor. I of course then met “Chuck” of Home Run Video as his shop was first stationed there. Bill and Otto of the rather blaase but homey Liberty Deli located in Drayton Towers. And what authentic downtowner(endangered species) could forget Crazy Julie and her pimp, dealer and husband, Frank. They gave new meaning to love and life both in Drayton Towers and on the streets of Savannah. The laundry room was also one of the hottest social scenes in Savannah for young people considering there was no coffeehouse and narely a gallery to speak of. Open 24 hours, It had a juke box, vending machines and what seemed to be an immovable, upright Ms. Pacman. Oh, less we forget the cigarette machine that was always a favorite to the girls of St. Vincent’s. They always made doing laundry more of a perk.

But yeah, the European glass did funky things in Savannah weather, people at The DeRenne had more bragging rights and on occasion tenants flew off of the building, but man it was never boring.

Landmark? Absolutely and on different levels. Its so funny how in Savannah, many in power and position foster and promote the value of buildings up over the value of life they have contained, contain or will contain. But that’s really another blog altogether.

For some of us socially progressive, Drayton Towers was always this funny symbol of Savannah’s “mix” and living near it or in it, was always proof of “being in the mix.” Even with all of the boutiquing up of Savannah, Drayton and nearby Chatham, seemed like these last bastions of that natural life economy instead of the “Its For Sale to the highest bidder” one.

But yes, Drayton has been sacked and has fallen to the Feudal Lords. Let us gather up and surround Chatham and protect it until our last breath! (Or at least until someone inside calls in the weekly bomb threat)

Thank you Shannon for sharing that slice of life with us. You brought out a good point. Far too often we get caught up in the redevelopment value and even aesthetic value of a building without stopping to think of the cultural and human value it has also stood witness to!

It is obvious you know little about the architectural importance of that building. It’s designed in the International Style, a style that was used primarily in the 20’s and 30’s and originated from the Bauhaus school of architecture. You also seem to forget that a city isn’t a city if it is treated like a museum. You can’t denounce a style because it is different. To turn Savannah completely back to the way it was in the 1800’s would be to destroy its other, more recent historic architectural gems, which are beautiful in their own right, even though they do not fit “the Victorian motif.” Already, the International Style has garnered a special place among preservationists. And in 20 to 30 years, our society will look back on these buildings of the recent past (50’s- present) like Atlanta’s old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, and wish they hadn’t torn them down like we wish we hadn’t torn down that old 1900’s school building or second empire house. Just consider the future.