Tag: historic preservation

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Savannah’s pioneer female landscape architect Clermont Lee transformed our public spaces. Now you can see her drawings online

North Way and Adams Street triangular plat, page 1 of 2 (Darien, Georgia).  Courtesy of Georgia Historical Society

Drawings by Georgia’s first female landscape architect Clermont Lee are now publicly available online thanks to a collaboration between the Georgia Historical Society and the Digital Library of Georgia.

From 1940 through the mid-1980s, she made landscape designs for clients in Savannah, Georgia, and throughout the Southeast.

“These designs provide insight into the less-well documented elements of preservation and restoration projects throughout the state,” notes G. Andrew Fleming, the Friends of Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites executive director.

“Clermont Lee was a pioneering figure in the history of landscape architecture,” says Nate Pedersen, Manager of the Archival and Reference Team at the Georgia Historical Society. “We expect her drawings to be of significant interest to historic preservationists, landscape architects, gardeners, and scholars around the country. As such, we are delighted to be able to freely share her drawings online and are grateful for the support from the Digital Library of Georgia.”

Plans for many Georgia and South Carolina residences, churches, schools, city blocks, office buildings, parks, airports, and historic sites are among the detailed design drawings now available at GHS. Lee is probably best-known locally for her mid-to-late twentieth-century work designing formal gardens for several of Savannah’s historic house museums, including the Owens-Thomas House and the Green-Meldrim House, as well as plans for several of the Landmark District’s beloved squares. Across the state, Lee’s designs include plans for the Chief Vann House in Murray County and Baptist Village in Waycross.

Fleming also adds: “These types of records are invaluable in helping establish a complete picture of our state’s historic spaces.”

About Clermont Lee

Clermont Huger Lee, born in Savannah in 1914, was the city’s first female architect in private practice. She worked as an assistant to T.M. Baumgardner of the Sea Island Corporation during the Great Depression. She became interested in historic gardens in the 1940s after receiving her education at Barnard and Smith Colleges.

As one of the first professional female landscape architects in Georgia, Lee worked with and independently of some of her era’s leading preservationists. She focused on preserving, recreating, and reinterpreting historic gardens and landscapes. This was an aspect of the preservation movement that she felt was ignored in many plans that focused on historic structures. 

Lee represents a less recognized part of the movement’s story as both a professional woman working in the field and as a preservationist focused on the natural environment. Historic preservation, particularly during the mid-twentieth century, was associated primarily with professional male architects and developers. Women (usually wealthy white women) worked as volunteers and activists. 

In addition to her work in Savannah, she worked on projects throughout Georgia and in cities such as Jacksonville, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina. Lee also worked on the founding of the Georgia State Landscape Architects Board.

Clermont Lee passed away in 2006 on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

About the Georgia Historical Society

Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is the premier independent statewide research and educational institution responsible for collecting, examining, and teaching Georgia history.  GHS houses the oldest and most distinguished collection of materials related exclusively to Georgia history in the nation. Visit georgiahistory.com/  

Selected Images:

North Way and Adams Street triangular plat, page 1 of 2, (Darien, Georgia) by Clermont Lee.
North Way and Adams Street triangular plat, page 1 of 2 (Darien, Georgia).  Courtesy of Georgia Historical Society
Chief Vann residence, page 1 of 2 ,(Murray County, Georgia) by Clermont Lee
Chief Vann residence, page 1 of 2 (Murray County, Georgia). Courtesy Georgia Historical Society
Frame Company- Realtors (Ridgeland, South Carolina) by Clermont Lee
Frame Company- Realtors (Ridgeland, South Carolina). Courtesy of Georgia Historical Society
Historic Madison Square, page 1 of 4 (Savannah, Georgia) by Clermont Lee
Historic Madison Square, page 1 of 4 (Savannah, Georgia). Courtesy of Georgia Historical Society
Isaiah Davenport House, page 4 of 4 (Savannah, Georgia) by Clermont Lee
Isaiah Davenport House, page 4 of 4 (Savannah, Georgia). Courtesy of Georgia Historical Society
Troup Square, Habersham Street, and Macon Street, page 1 of 5 (Savannah, Georgia) by Clermont Lee
Troup Square, Habersham Street, and Macon Street, page 1 of 5 (Savannah, Georgia). Courtesy Georgia Historical Society
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Historical Savannah city maps available online

Boundaries of Brownsville, south of and adjoining the City of Savannah Geo. [Bounded on the] east by land of G. M. Willis; west by Bulloch Street; north by land of Minis; south by land of G. W. Anderson. Included Garden Lots 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 subdivided to 136 building lots.

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to announce the availability of three new historical map collections from the City of Savannah Municipal Archives:

  •     Record Series 3121-007, Engineering Department – General Maps, 1798-1961, no date,

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_edgm, which contains maps from 1798 to 1961 that illustrate Savannah property holdings, as well as land subdivision for City and private development. The maps also record property lines, right-of-ways, water and sewer lines, and street openings. Many maps include the names of property owners.

  •     Record Series 3121-019, Savannah Cadastral Survey – Ward Survey Maps, 1939-1940,

https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_scswsm. This collection includes survey maps of Savannah’s wards prepared in 1939 and 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of the three-year, $65,000 WPA Savannah Cadastral Survey project. The city of Savannah is laid out in a system of wards, or blocks of land. The Cadastral Survey included all wards within the City’s corporate limits at the time. On May 9, 1940, Major H. U. Wallace, District WPA Engineer, presented Mayor Thomas Gamble with the Ward Survey Maps at City Hall. The survey was originally intended for use of the local tax assessors, but it has also proved useful for planning public utilities and improvements, determining property lines, and tracing the history of buildings and properties.

  •     Record Series 3121-020, Engineering Department – Major Subdivision Maps, 1871-1972, no date, https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/gsg_edmsm, which includes 249 maps of Savannah neighborhoods and subdivisions submitted to the City of Savannah Engineering Department for review and approval. The maps were prepared by a variety of surveyors and engineers, representing the City of Savannah, Chatham County, and private engineering and architectural firms. Many of the maps are copies or tracings submitted to the Engineering Department. Some of the maps include approval information by the City Engineer, County Engineer, Chatham-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission and/or the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah.

These historical maps are a rich resource documenting the development of Savannah’s town plan, wards, and neighborhoods through the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Within the General Maps collection, the City of Savannah Municipal Archives has included a very early 1798 township map that documents the extension of the “Oglethorpe Plan” outside of the town limits to encompass the garden and farm lots. This, along with the progression of maps throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, show how Savannah’s unique plan was executed and evolved. The maps can be studied by urban planners, historians, and preservationists, and provide important insight for people making planning decisions today. The City of Savannah Municipal Archives has seen a dramatic increase in researcher interest in Savannah’s 20th century development, including citizens and community groups trying to document their neighborhoods, as well as historians researching the loss and preservation of Savannah’s infrastructure and built environment and how that fits in to a national context. The inclusion of the mid-20th century Ward Survey Maps provides a valuable point-in-time snapshot of Savannah before the preservation movement began.

Luciana Spracher, director of the City of Savannah Municipal Archives, notes: “The maps are regularly used by students (K-12 and college), historians, homeowners, citizens/residents, City staff, etc., and online access will surely increase this use and expand our geographical reach to those outside of Savannah who cannot physically come in to City Hall. We’ve also recently seen an increase in the ways in which people are using historical records, not just for traditional academic works, but for art applications and digital humanities projects. We hope that greater access to our records, and to a younger audience that may not access them through traditional onsite visits, will encourage new interactions with archives and new innovative projects.”

About the City of Savannah Municipal Archives

The City of Savannah Municipal Archives collects, manages, preserves, and makes accessible records documenting the City of Savannah’s history; administers the records management program and the City Records Center to increase the efficiency of City agencies; and shares the City’s history with City employees, citizens and visitors through outreach activities. The Municipal Archives services reference requests from researchers and the general public which relate to archival and historical City records under its administration in the City Records Center, and shares the City’s history through a variety of public outreach activities, including tours of City Hall, permanent and rotating exhibits, and special programs.

About the Digital Library of Georgia

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia https://dlg.usg.edu is a GALILEO initiative that collaborates with Georgia’s libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions of education and culture to provide access to key information resources on Georgia history, culture, and life. This primary mission is accomplished through the ongoing development, maintenance, and preservation of digital collections and online digital library resources.  DLG also serves as Georgia’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America and as the home of the Georgia Newspaper Project, the state’s historic newspaper microfilming project.

Featured image:  Boundaries of Brownsville, south of and adjoining the City of Savannah Geo. [Bounded on the] east by land of G. M. Willis; west by Bulloch Street; north by land of Minis; south by land of G. W. Anderson. Included Garden Lots 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 subdivided to 136 building lots.

Record Series 3121-020, Engineering Department – Major Subdivision Maps, 1871-1972, no date

City of Savannah Municipal Archives

http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:gsg_edmsm_edmsm-015-a

This project was made possible through DLG’s Subgranting Program

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