Mercer House (Savannah, Georgia) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mercer Williams House Museum |
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Mercer House
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The house in 2020
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| Former names | Mercer House |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| Location | Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Address | 429 Bull Street, Monterey Square |
| Coordinates | 32°04′17″N 81°05′44″W / 32.07137°N 81.09563°W |
| Construction started | 1860 |
| Completed | 1868 |
| Owner |
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| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 (including basement) |
| Floor area | 7,000 sq.ft. |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | John S. Norris (further drawings by Muller and Bruyn) |
The Mercer House, now known as the Mercer Williams House Museum, is a famous old house in Savannah, Georgia. You can find it at 429 Bull Street, right on the edge of Monterey Square. This grand building was finished in 1868.
The house became very well-known because of a story told in the 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This book was later made into a movie in 1997. The house was owned by Jim Williams, who was famous for his amazing Christmas parties there.
After Jim Williams passed away in 1990, his sister, Dorothy Williams Kingery, owned the house until she died in 2023. Today, you can visit parts of the house on a tour. Jim Williams's niece, Dorothy Susan Kingery, helps manage the museum, which is located in the old carriage house behind the main building.
Contents
History of Mercer House
The Mercer House was designed in the Italianate style by John S. Norris. Construction started in 1860 for General Hugh Mercer, who was the great-grandfather of the famous songwriter Johnny Mercer. However, the American Civil War stopped the building work.
The house was finally completed around 1868 by its new owner, a cotton merchant named John Randolph Wilder. Interestingly, no one from the Mercer family ever actually lived in the house.
For some time in the 1900s, the building was used by the Savannah Shriners as their Alee Temple. Then, it sat empty for ten years. In 1969, Jim Williams bought the house for $55,000. He was one of the first people in Savannah to focus on restoring old buildings. Jim Williams spent two years carefully bringing the house back to its original beauty.
Jim Williams was known for his unique personality. In 1979, when a movie was being filmed nearby, he did something unusual to get the film company's attention. He wanted them to donate to the local humane society.
In the early 1980s, Jackie Onassis, the wife of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, visited Mercer House. She was traveling with her friend Maurice Tempelsman. Jackie Onassis was very interested in a special jade box that Jim Williams owned.
Jim Williams died in 1990. His sister, Dorothy Kingery, later put the house up for sale. In December 2019, the outside of the house got a full makeover by New Standard Enterprises. Dorothy Kingery passed away in 2023 at the age of 88.
Outside the House
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The Mercer House is built with "Philadelphia Red" bricks and has three floors, including a basement. In the basement, Jim Williams had his workshop where he and his team fixed antiques. They also did special work like gold leafing, veneering, and marbleizing.
The property includes a front yard, the main house, a courtyard, and a carriage house. It's special because it sits on a city trust lot, which is rare for a privately owned building in Savannah. An iron railing goes around the front and sides of the house. A brick wall provides privacy between the courtyard and the carriage house. This wall has been made taller since the house became so famous.
The front of the house faces east towards Monterey Square. It has five French windows. Most of these windows have a balcony with an iron railing. Each window on the first and second floors has a fancy cast iron decoration above it. The main entrance has a classical portico with two columns on each side. One column base has a plaque showing when construction began, and the other shows the house number.
Both the north and south sides of the house have a French window in the middle of the first and second floors, with two single windows on each side. The basement windows are the same size as the windows directly above them.
At the back of the house, the first and second floors open onto verandas. The first floor has a double door with a French window on each side. The second floor has three windows and one door in the middle. The part without a window is where the ballroom organ is located.
In total, the house has 40 windows and eight iron balconies. Another cool feature on the outside are the support brackets under the roof's eaves.
In 1997, Dorothy Kingery made sure the house's front was a registered trademark. She asked local artists who used photos of the house to either stop or share their earnings.
Inside the House
Many of Jim Williams's old furniture and decorations were sold at an auction after he passed away. We'll mention where some of these items used to be in the house.
First Floor Rooms
When you enter the house, the drawing room is on the right. It has a fireplace. Jim Williams kept many interesting items here, including Fabergé items. One special item was a large silver box from 1899, given by the Russian Tsar Nicholas II to the Shah of Persia. Jim Williams bought it in London in 1971 and kept it on his jade-green coffee table for thirty years. The drawing room was even featured on the cover of a book called At Home in Savannah: Great Interiors.
Next to the drawing room is the music room. It used to have a large mahogany sideboard and two beautiful 18th-century Brussels tapestries. There was also a piano in this room.
Through pocket doors from the music room, you enter the library. This room also has a fireplace. After Jim Williams died, his sister hung a painting of him holding his cat, Sheldon, in this room. Jim Williams also owned nine pastel portraits from the early 1700s, which he kept safe from sunlight in an upstairs dressing room. One of these portraits was of John Perceval, who helped establish the Georgia Colony.
The study is at the front left of the house. It has a fireplace on its south wall. This room was where a famous event happened that is talked about in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
The main entrance hall has a semi-circular staircase leading to the basement and the second floor. The original floor tiles in the hallway were imported from England. This hallway was designed to be a cool living-room during the summer.
The dining room is at the back left of the house and also has a fireplace. It once held a large dining table with eight chairs. Jim Williams also had a special three-tier server, which he found in Grenada.
The carriage house at the back of the property, facing Whitaker Street, was used by Jim Williams as a guest house for visitors. Between the main house and the carriage house is a courtyard with a brick privacy wall.
Second Floor Rooms
The second floor is where you'll find the ballroom, located on the north side of the house. The ballroom once had a large pipe organ and a beautiful center table with a marble top. Above the fireplace was a tall, fancy mirror.
The master bedroom is also on this floor, on the south side of the house. One of the two guest rooms has a large four-poster bed that was hand-carved in Grenada in the 1800s.
A beautiful stained-glass dome skylight was added in 1868 above the top of the stairs. It has vents to help cool the house. The second floor is not usually part of the public tours of the home.
Other Interesting Items
- A carved walnut lamp, partly from the 1600s.
- A portrait of Mary Marshall, who founded Savannah's Marshall House. This painting was bought from Jim Williams's estate and now hangs in the hotel's lobby.
Historic American Buildings Survey images
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The southern façade, on West Gordon Street
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The rear of the house, viewed from West Wayne Street. The privacy wall has since been raised
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The carriage house, at the rear of the property, on Whitaker Street
See also
