Savannah Cotton Exchange - Freemason's Hall - Savannah GA

            It's funny I've walked by this building so many times and never paid attention to it.  Savannah has so much to look at it's easy to miss things.
In 2009 the original terra cotta lion, which dates to 1890, was shattered from its perch by a car (drunk driver) that went airborne at the intersection of Bay and Drayton streets.
Pieces were collected and this replacement lion was born.
The Savannah Cotton Exchange stands as a grand reminder of cotton's influence on this city. Built in 1886 by Boston architect William G. Preston, the cotton exchange was one of the first major buildings to be constructed entirely over a public street. Built of red brick with a terra cotta façade, iron window lintels and copper finials and copings, the building is one of the best surviving examples of the Romantic Revival period.
The original building was built in 1872 when export revenue from cotton was $40 million when Georgia was the leading cotton producer in the country, and Savannah was one of the major cotton seaports on the Atlantic. By the 1880s the area was known as the "Wall Street of the South." Ironically the current building was constructed when cotton was only selling for as little as ten cents a pound. But it was a little insect, the boll weevil, which finally rendered the building obsolete by 1920.
In the front of the exchange, an elaborate iron fence with detailed medallions of famous statesmen and authors encloses a statue of a griffin and landscaped fountain. This is part of the same ironwork that you will see at the Philbrick-Eastman House on Chippewa Square.
   

Taken in: United States / Georgia / Savannah (show map)

Taken on: August 26, 2015

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Sets appears in: • Georgia

Groups appears in: • Savannah • Flickr Addicts more » • Georgia, U.S.A. • Savannah and the Creative Coast • FlickrToday (only 1 pic per day) • ANYTHING ALLOWED!!!!!! • ANY PHOTOS ALL THE TIME!!!! • A History of Georgia • .Southern Photographers - Southern Images • -WSCF - West Suburban Chicago Flickrers • Deep Fried South • Georgia National Register of Historic Places • Georgia On My Mind • Explore Georgia • ALL Welcome - I am sick of 'rules and regulations - New Contest • Images of Georgia • Structures of the South • The Antebellum South • Connect Savannah You Shoot • Historic Masonic Buildings Worldwide • Savannah Sightseeing • The Sights of Savannah • VisitSavannah • Nikon D600/D610 CLUB • Nikon D600/D610 • Nikon D610 - Official « less

Camera: Nikon D610, f/8.0, 1/125 sec, 24mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D610
Lens:	AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Photos 1.0.1
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