Owens-Thomas House
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
This stately home was built in 1819 for successful cotton merchant and banker, Richard Richardson and his wife, Francis Bolton. It was designed by the English architect William Jay, one of the first trained architects in the country. He designed the house in the English Regency style and features many interesting architectural elements such as curved walls and doors, indirect lighting in the drawing room, a bridge in the upstairs hall, and one of the finest staircases in the South. The English Regency style is named after King George IV, who served as Prince Regent from 1811-1820. Today the house is one three buildings that comprise the Telfair Museum, the oldest public art museum in the South. Its features a decorative arts collection consisting of Owens family furnishings as well as American and European objects dating from 1750-1830. Behind the house are an English-themed garden and one of the earliest intact urban slave quarters in the South.
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Sources
Pitts, Carolyn. "Owens-Thomas House." National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. May 11, 1976. http://focus.nps.gov/GetAsset?assetID=4fdc246d-a940-4ae8-a4d9-9eb798b7bbe1.