621 Ruben Street (House), Savannah

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2376. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The structure at 621 Ruben Street is located within the Beach Institute Historic Neighborhood. Once a part of the Fairlawn Plantation, the area has been a significant part of the black community since before the Civil War. 621 RUBEN STREET (House) HABS No. GA-2376 (page 2) PART f: PHYSfCAL CONTEXT The structure at 621 Ruben Street is set in Mercer Ward, a district located within the Beach Institute Historic Neighborhood which is that part of the Savannah Historic District located between Liberty Street on the north, Price Street on the west, East Gwinnett Street on the south, and East Broad Street on the east. PART U: HfSTORrCAL CONTEXT The area known as the Beach fnstitute Historic Neighborhood was originally part of a parcel of land owned by Thomas Gibbons.

In Gibbons, then a young, wealthy entrepreneur from Savannah, purchased more than 350 acres for a sum of 352 pounds. Over the next few years, Gibbons continued to purchase additional parcels of land until the early when he converted his rather large landholdings into a rice plantation. He gave his new plantation the name, "Fairlawn". A composite map from shows that Gibbons built several structures on the grounds of Fairlawn: a stately lodge surrounded by a grove of large oaks, an overseer's cottage and several rows of slave quarters. Gibbons moved his family north to New Jersey in the early giving charge of Fairlawn and his personal affairs to a Colonel Maxwell. Gibbons and his family would visit the plantation often, enjoying prolonged vacations during the summer months.

The outbreak of the Civil War brought a cessation to agricultural activities all along the Savannah River, and Fairlawn Plantation was no exception. Gibbons joined the Confederate Army and while he was away his slaves abandoned their work and set ablaze the great structures and rice fields of Fairlawn. Nothing remained but the salvage cottages, the overseer's mansion, and Whitefall lodge. Following Lee's surrender to Grant, Gibbons not only feed his slaves, but granted 40 acres and a mule to each family. By the early the plantation lands were subdivided by streets and the area became a fashionable residential community for middle class Negro families.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2376. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

SrTE DESCRIPTfON The houses in the Beach Institute Historic Neighborhood are architecturally significant as they represent the types of dwellings which existed as early as the Many lane cottages were built along the dirt lanes to utilize the long, narrow lots to the fullest extent. 621 RUBEN STREET (House) HABS No. GA-2376 (page 3) The structure known as 621 Ruben Street was most likely constructed in the late The property on which it is located changed hands more than ten times from the to the and there is no record as to when the structure was actually built. The dwelling is a four room clapboard house with a covered porch in front and an addition in the rear. The front door opens into a central hallway with two rooms on either side. Each room contains a fireplace on the west wall.

At the end of the hall is an enclosed porch with a kitchen and bathroom on either side. In October of the dwelling was in a state of considerable disrepair. It was to be moved to a new location in the late and possibly renovated as part of a revitalization project of the Mercer Ward area, providing quality housing for low- income families. 621 RUBEN STREET (House) HABS No. GA-2376 (page 4) BIBLIOGRAPHY SAVANNAH RIVER PLANTATIONS; (Original Print) Savannah Historical Society, 194 7. Print) Reprint Co., Spartenburg, SC NOTE: Measured drawings and physical description of structure provided by Hansen Architects, 300 Bull Street, Suite Savannah, Georgia (October 621 RUBEN STREET (House) HABS No. GA-2376 (page 5) UBERTY ST. . . _ _ __ _ _ v; 1- ",. ~ .

~ ~ ~ 111---"l=i[:RY'-"'-ST_-.,__ .___I i I / __ SAVANNAH HISTORlC DISTRICT ~! 05 1 BEACH INSTITUTE HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD 621 RUBEN STREET CHATHAM co.~ SAVANNAH GEORGIA AST ffJNTNCDON STR T I I 621 RUBEN ST. [ } EXISTING LOCATION '-'COlL STREIT I HUNTINGDON ST. I I [ I ID II i 0 tJ HALL ST. l I : I I I I / . _rAST HALL LN. l I LU1~~w~~-1~r_. LJ WT~ STREIT 621 RUBEN STREET (House) HABS No. GA-2376 (page 6) 30'-o" 0 CJ l j 621 RUBEN STREET CHATHAM CO. SAVANNAH GEORGlA HANSEN ARCHITECTS