Sunday, April 27, 2008
Another Update On 432 Abercorn Street
I had the pleasure of taking a walking tour here in Savannah with my mom and step-dad last night. Of course the first question out of my mouth for this poor tour guide who would soon find that my family asks a million questions, was "do you know anything about 432 Abercorn?" Well yes she did. She told me that a lot of tour companies in Savannah tend to embellish on a lot of stories, which I figured of course. She told me that she didn't know personally whether or not the haunting stories were true, but she did say that the city doesn't have it on it's "left to decay" list. She told me that the house was bought four years ago and that renovations were started. She said that since then the renovations have seemed to have ceased. Hum, wonder why? Anyway, I'm taking matters into my own hands, since I want to find out the real story here. I'm marching my butt on down to the court house to pull records on the house, and find out all I can about it. I wonder if they will let me make copies? Anyway, I will be sure to let ya'll know what I dig up. Maybe I'll find out who the current owners are, bake some of my famous corn bread(the only thing I can cook), and pay them a visit!!
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8 comments:
The fact that the house was bought 4 years ago already contradicts what I was told on the tour.
I'm sure you'll find info at the court house. As to photocopying them, I have in mind a certain scene from the movie 'Erin Brockovich'...
Another thing that would be interesting to find out is who worked on the house. Once you know that, you could ask if they had a non-monetary reason to stop working on the house...
I am so curious about this place.
Me again. :-)
Every time I Google this place, I get more info.
http://www.ajcarchives.org/ajc_data/files/1902_1903_6_yearreview.pdf
Somebody named S. Meinhard lived at 432 Abercorn in the early 1900s. Another clue!
And check out this page:
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/cms/fellow_tutorial/parcels/hilton.htm
As of December 30, 1998, the owner of the house was WALDEN OMI G.
I recently found your blog on 432 Abercorn St.
As a part time resident of Savannah, I am totally
intrigued by the stories. I heard a story from my
contractor about the house and was wondering where
I could read your version of the story.
One thing, I found was on www.sagis.org. It's
the Chatham County property tax record.
It states what Raven said that Ms. Walden is the
owner. It also states that she lives on the third floor.
Also, this may be old info by now, looking at the
dates of the last posts on this, but having worked
at the local court house in NJ as a summer job, all
records (deeds, mortages, maps) are public record
and you can copy them.
and the others are uninhabitable. It also states that
all restoration has stopped.
As a restoration person, I am intrigued as to why the restoration has stopped. The house looks
like it would be incredible on the inside.
Here's yet another new-to-me link about the house:
http://vsav.scad.edu/cgi-bin/vhs/model_link2db.cgi?BuildingId=001785
It lists quite a few (all?) of its past owners.
Enough time has passed for me to finally admit that the tour guide got me good and probably laughed all the way home.
I came across your blog today regarding 432 Abercorn. My wife and I live on the same square in an 1873 house we restored. The 432 house has always intrigued everyone. People have tried to purchase it many times, but the owner is not interested in selling. I don't believe a restoration has ever been attempted on it. From my research Omi G Walden purchased it in 1973 for only $75K. If you google her, you will find she was Asst Sec of Energy under Jimmy Carter. Every year or so we will see workers at the house doing minimal maintenance, such as roof work or painting the wood trim, but nothing more.
It is an incredible house and it is every restorers dream house. It is truly a shame that she doesn't do something with it or sell it. No one has lived in the house since the early 70s. If you want to do more research on the house, I suggest you go to the Georgia Historical Society. From there you can look at the City Directories. I did this for our row on Taylor and documented everyone that lived in our houses since they were built.
My husband and I moved to Savannah a year ago and absolutely love the downtown district. The office I work in is a restored home near Forsyth Park and is absolutely beautiful. My dream has always been to restore a historic home. My husband's family recently came to town and wanted to take a ghost tour. On our tour we saw 432 Abercorn. I don't know that I believe the stories about the home, but I have absolutely fallen in love with the house. It is truly a shame that restorations were stopped. I plan on going to the historical society soon to research because we would love to purchase that home.
Good luck in your pursuit. From the offers that I have heard personnally that she has turned down, I don't think anyone will get it for under $1.5M and it will probably take at least $600K to bring it back to life. It is worth it if someone has the finacnes, but I just don't think she will sell. It is a shame. We live catty-corner across the square and would love to see the old belle come back to life.
The house sold last year (2018) for 1.2 million. Interested to know if you ever did any digging and found out more?
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