Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

About this property

The Tomochichi Federal Building and United States Court House is a court house of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia located in Savannah, Georgia. It was built between 1894 and 1899, and substantially enlarged in 1932. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as Federal Building and U.S. Court House, and was renamed in honor of the Creek Indian leader Tomochichi in 2005. The building is located on a prominent site within the city's National Historic Landmark District. The building occupies an entire city block on the western side of Wright Square, bounded by Bull, York, Whitaker, and State streets. The building makes an important visual contribution architecturally to the city due to the high quality of its design and materials, and as such is individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style, with richly carved ornamentation, it is one of the most distinguished and imposing buildings of its era in Savannah. The building was constructed primarily to house the Savannah post office, which was previously located in the U.S. Customs House. In 1889, work had just begun on a new post office at the corner of York and Abercorn Streets when construction was suspended because the citizens of Savannah wanted a "more suitable" building than the one originally planned. As a result, the U.S. Congress was persuaded to appropriate additional funds for the new post office, and in 1894, excavations began at a new site in the southern half of the block now entirely occupied by the building. This site itself was notable in Savannah's history as the former location of a courthouse where John Wesley, founder of Methodism, had preached in 1736 and 1737. The original building was designed between 1893 and 1894, during W. J. Edbrooke's tenure as Supervising Architect of the Treasury. The building cornerstone lists Jeremiah O'Rourke as the architect. Originally designated as the U.S. Post Office and Court House, the structure was later renamed the Federal Building and U.S. Court House. By July 30, 1899, all departments of the post office were in the new government building. It also housed the U.S. Courts, the U.S. Engineers, and the U.S. Weather Bureau. The building was enlarged between 1930 and 1932 when it was extended north to encompass the remainder of the block. Today, the building serves as offices for the U.S. District Court and Court-related functions. Updates on the building were funded in 2016; work started in 2021. The courthouse will be gutted and rebuilt to add room for additional offices. In February 2023, streets around the courthouse were closed after temporary support systems failed. In April 2023, 30 square feet of the third floor gave way while extensive renovations were taking place. Three or four construction workers were injured. An inspection into the structural integrity of the building took place, after which it was decided that renovations were necessary. The building will remain closed until late 2026 or early 2027.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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