Savannah's Chatham Square

Chatham Square was laid out in 1847 and named in 1851 for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. Although Pitt never visited Savannah, he was an early supporter of the Georgia colony and both Chatham Square and Chatham County are named in his honor.

Chatham Square is sometimes known locally as Barnard Square, in reference to a city school that stood adjacent for many years.

Chatham Square is one of the 24 squares that was designed and incorporated into the plan for the city of Savannah.

Notable Buildings on Chatham Square:

Savannah College of Art and Design -- The Barnard Street School, now one of the buildings of the Savannah College of Art and Design is on the Northwest corner of the square.

Gordon Row -- On the Southeast corner of the square is Gordon Row, fifteen four story townhouses built as rental housing.

Location:

Chatham Square is located on Barnard, between Taylor and Gordon Streets.

The Squares of Savannah Georgia:

Savannah was originally laid out around four open squares. The plan anticipated growth of the city and thus expansion of the grid; additional squares were added during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, and by 1851 there were twenty four squares in downtown Savannah. Three of these have been demolished or altered beyond recognition, leaving twenty-one squares at the present. One of those, Ellis Square, is currently being rebuilt. Most squares are named in honor or in memory of a person, persons, or event, and many contain monuments, markers, memorials, statues, plaques, and other tributes. The first squares were originally intended to provide colonists space for military exercises. All of the squares are a part of Savannah's historic district and fall within an area of less than one half square mile. Savannah's city plan was designed by General James Oglethorpe, and his layout has been hailed as the most intelligent grid in America. The American Society of Civil Engineers has honored Oglethorpe's plan for Savannah as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and in 1994 the plan was nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The squares are a major point of interest for millions of tourists visiting Savannah each year, and they have been credited with stabilizing once-deteriorating neighborhoods and revitalizing Savannah's downtown commercial district.