historic house museum
Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters
A masterpiece of Regency architecture (1819) with one of the most intact urban slave quarters in the American South.
The Owens-Thomas House is considered one of the finest examples of English Regency architecture in the United States, designed by William Jay and completed in 1819. Beyond its architectural splendor, the site is significant for its intact 1820s slave quarters — one of the most complete urban enslaved-person quarters in the South. The Telfair Museums-operated site now gives equal interpretive weight to the enslaved people who lived and worked there as to the architecture and the white family who owned it. The Marquis de Lafayette delivered a speech from the south facade balcony in 1825.
African American Heritage
The site preserves one of the most intact urban slave quarters in the American South (c. 1820s). Telfair Museums' interpretation now centers the experiences of the enslaved people who lived and worked there alongside the architectural history.
Period: Regency, Antebellum
Quick Facts
- Completed
- 1819
- Architect
- William Jay
- Style
- English Regency
- Heritage
- Intact urban slave quarters, c. 1820s
- Historic event
- Lafayette speech from balcony, 1825
About Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters
The Owens-Thomas House (1819) is a masterpiece of English Regency architecture and an essential site for understanding slavery in urban Savannah. Its intact 1820s slave quarters — among the most complete in the American South — are now given full interpretive weight. Lafayette spoke from its balcony in 1825.
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