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| "Know
that I write from the most comfortable quarters I have
ever had in the United States. In a tranquil old city,
wide stretched, tree-planted, with a few cows and
carriages rolling through the sandy road, a red river
with a tranquil little fleet of merchant men taking
cargo, and tranquil ware-houses barricaded with packs of
cotton; |
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famous good dinner, breakfast, etc. and leisure all
morning to think and do and sleep and read as I
like. The only place I stay in the
United States where I can get these comforts -- all free
gratis -- is in the house of my friend Andrew Low of the
great house of A. Low and Co, Cotton Dealers, brokers.
- Excerpts from a
letter written by prominent English author William
Makepeace Thackeray from his room at the home of Andrew
Low on Saint Valentine’s Day. His words give us a
brief insight into Andrew Low and his home and what life
was like in 19th Century Savannah. |
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John Norris designed a three story stucco-over-brick
building in the Italianate style. The sandstone trim of
the entrance is guarded by a pair of cast iron lions;
the first story is set below street level surrounded by
a dry moat.
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The family
dining room, kitchen, pantry, laundry room, and servants’
room were placed on this floor. Upstairs on the
principal floor were spacious parlors, dining room,
library and a butler's pantry. The top floor had five
bedrooms and a bathing room. Wide halls extended the
length of each floor and a stairway with a mahogany
railing and a newel post joined the parlor and bedroom
floors. In the attic beneath a low pitched roof is a
500 gallon cistern holding water for piping to bathing
room and kitchen. Cast iron balconies and shuttered
piazzas provided admirable places for enjoying fine
weather and cooling breezes. |
The classical entrance with massive doors outlined by
wooden bosses opens into a hall forty feet in length.
The interior doors are grained to resemble Honduran
mahogany and framed with pilasters capped by lotus and
acanthus leaf carved capitals. The hardware is silver plated.
In the hall, a floor cloth faux painted to resemble
blocks of green marble. is laid on the diagonal and
outlined with a gold border in Greek key design. On the
ceiling above are elaborate plaster cornices, anthemion
carved brackets and oval shaped medallions sheltering
recessed passion flowers, from which hang oil lamps with
etched globes reflecting classical elegance on a
domestic scale.
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The furnishings in
the hall include a pair of mahogany pier tables with
black marble tops, upon which stand a pair of double
burner Argand lamps bearing the manufacturer's plaque
(1846). Above a mahogany sofa in green and gold hair cloth
hangs a large convex mirror in a gold
leaf frame topped by an eagle and flanked by candle
arms. Opposite the sofa is a mahogany tall case clock
reflecting the classical lines of the
Biedermeier style furniture popular in Europe in the
1840s. |
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| The parlors are furnished
with handsome mahogany and rosewood furniture by Duncan Phyfe
and Joseph Meeks. In the formal front parlor stands a rare,
upright pianoforte manufactured in London by Broadwood; the
rosewood case is inlaid with elaborate brass and the strings are
concealed behind a gold silk taffeta "sunburst."
Grecian couches and chairs are upholstered in documented crimson
and gold silk lampus. |
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| The pattern in
the fabric is a reflection of the grid and rosette patterns in the
cast iron railings of balconies as seen through the windows. The
rosette motif was used in many forms during the Classical
period. A variation appears in the documentary pattern of the
Brussels weave carpet (uncut loops) in the parlors. |
| In the dining room the
table is set with French porcelain while the sideboard is
arranged with the finest silver. A bountiful variety of foods
available in pre-war Savannah arrived via dumb waiter from the
kitchen to the butler's pantry. Famous guests visited the Lows,
including English author and lecturer, William Makepeace
Thackeray who wrote of, "the excellent table set by my
host" and "I am staying in the most comfortable
quarters in the United States of America, in the house of my
friend, the cotton factor, Andrew Low." |
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| The library is
presented as the traditional male refuge, dominated by massive
secretary and bookcase containing a variety of titles that an
astute businessman and genial host might have owned. Over the
mantle is a painting of William Mackay Low astride a favorite
hunter painted by James Linwood Palmer. |
| Four bedrooms are furnished
with massive mahogany beds and great armoires which
provide storage space for clothing and linens. In the Lows'
bedroom an Eli Terry clock has an eglomise panel. On the
mahogany sewing table with pleated cloth work bag is a
chinoiserie lacquered lady's work box with ivory fittings.
Elegant dressing tables are placed in front of the windows as
dictated for better admittance of the light. |
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Grandmother Eliza Stiles' bedroom has a rare wash/dressing stand
possibly by Issac Vose. The Wedgwood Peony pattern bowl and
pitcher set includes numerous pieces for the well-appointed
bedroom of the era. The rosewood writing desk used by Thackeray
stands in the northeast bedroom where the view from the window
"looks down upon the hourglass garden," he described.
The garden is outlined with clay tiles in the basket weave and
rosette pattern. The bed with the sunburst in its tester frame
belonged to Juliette Gordon.
The fifth bedroom which was
used by the children contains painted furniture, referred to as
"cottage furniture", straw matting and mosquito nets on the
beds. A multi-piece doll's dish set and several dolls including
one doll with wax features purchased in Paris (1856) are among
the toys played with by some children of that period. |
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