HISTORIC
REMSHART
ROW HOUSE
108 West Jones Street is one of four row houses collectively known as “Remshart Row.” They were designed and built in 1853 by William Remshart – a classic Southern renaissance man. The wealthy Remshart served the city of Savannah in a number of capacities, including member of First Company (militia), real estate developer, City Constable, and member of the Savannah Fire Company.
Remshart was married twice and was the father of 17 children. He passed away at 73 on February 24, 1878 from heart disease. You can find him buried here in Savannah at the William Remshart vault in the Laurel Grove Cemetery, surrounded by members of his family.
You can browse some of the original floorplans and drawings of the “Remshart Row” houses in the gallery below. You’ll also find framed prints of some of the original drawings in the living room of Blue Magnolia above the sofa.
The name “Jones Street” honors Major John Jones of Liberty County, GA. Jones was an aide to Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh in his command of the Georgia Continentals during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah. He was killed in the attack on Spring Hill, at the site of the present Battlefield Park.
Most of the buildings located on Jones Street date from the 1850s-1860s. A few pioneer houses were constructed south of Madison Square in the late 1840s, spurred by the establishment of its southern neighbor, Monterey Square, in 1847. The blocks east and west of Bull Street filled in over the decade or two that followed.
The result of this development is the degree of uniformity of appearance found along the street today, with brick construction and an assortment of single-family, paired and row houses in the frequently conservative and classically-inspired style of the mid century. Porches, where present, are in many cases later additions, constructed to take advantage of Jones Street’s brick paving, which removed much of the dust of Savannah’s earlier, sandy roads.
Like many parts of downtown Savannah, Jones Street entered a period of decline in the 20th century. In the 1960s, it was the subject of one of the Historic Savannah’s Foundation’s early large-scale restoration projects, which renovated many of the historic properties around West Jones Street and adjacent Pulaski Square.
