Juliette Gordon Low birthplace
The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace commissioned LPC to conduct a conditions assessment for the 1821 main house, outbuildings and garden area located at the prominent corner of Bull Street and Oglethorpe Avenue in Savannah, Georgia. The main purpose of the conditions assessment was to identify any deficiencies and provide recommendations for routine, preventative maintenance. The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the First Girl Scout Headquarters, as part of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace National Landmark District in 1987. The nineteenth century Regency style main house was built between 1818-1821 for James Moore Wayne, a prominent attorney, politician, and mayor of Savannah (1817-1819). In 1831, Wayne sold the two-story home to his niece and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. William Washington Gordon, Juliette Gordon Low’s grandparents. Juliette Gordon Low was born in the house in 1860. In 1886, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Gordon II, commissioned the renowned New York architect Detlef Lienau to design plans to renovate the main house. Lienau’s designs included the addition of the third floor, hipped roof, east porch, a parlor level kitchen, and bathrooms for the second and third floors. During World War II, the main house was divided into apartments, greatly altering the interior layout. The house remained in the Gordon family’s possession until 1953. Three years later, the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) purchased the site in 1954. Through national fundraising campaigns and donations organized by Girl Scouts helped fund the first major restoration project of the entire site. Notable Savannah landscape architect, Clermont Lee designed a Victorian parterre garden for the Birthplace. In 2020, the garden was removed from the site and was replaced with a new ADA accessible patio garden with the layout of Lee’s garden marked in pavers. GSUSA remains the steward of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace and has continued to rehabilitate and restore the site for visitors and Girl Scouts/Girl Guides worldwide.
During the research and assessment of the site, LPC determined a pattern of large-scale restoration and rehabilitation projects occurring approximately every decade from the time GSUSA acquired the site in 1954. It immediately became clear that the preventative maintenance plan would be an invaluable resource to reduce the necessity for such continuous major projects. A primary remediation required was the cleaning, service, and inspection of the gutters, downspouts, and drainage systems as the main house and outbuildings all displayed signs of moisture intrusion on their exterior and interiors. Once the gutters, downspouts, and drainage systems have been repaired/cleaned, repairs can be made to all windows to ensure the interiors are secured from any further moisture intrusion. LPC provided the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace with recommendations to remediate any existing conditions as required with the goal that by the end of 2024 staff could refer only to the preventative maintenance plan.
