The Spriggs Group P.C.

The goal for this project was to adapt the 1905 Burroughs School, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the 1926 McCown Auditorium, for a natural and cultural history museum as important parts of Horry County’s heritage.

Our team created exhibit galleries to engage visitors as well as to restore the schoolhouse atmosphere. The pattern of galleries followed the same plan as the original classrooms.

A National Historic Landmark, the Owens-Thomas House, built in 1819, is considered to be the finest example of English Regency architecture in the United States. An extensive preservation program of exterior historic finishes alleviated the deterioration which occurred over the years. The carriage house at the east end of the property housed domestic slaves and a stable/loft. Part of the preservation and restoration program was to return the original pattern of openings to the carriage house. The slaves quarters were adaptively reused as orientation and interpretation galleries for visitors to the museum.

Merit Award
–A.I.A. Savannah Chapter

Preservation Award
–Historic Savannah Foundation

This structure is a rare surviving example of a late 18th-century Federal double-house in Savannah. The original double staircase enclosure is unique to the City’s remaining historic buildings in that it extends to the attic level. Important fabric remaining include the building wood frame structure, exterior clapboards, fragments of roof cornice assembly, second and attic floor boards, fragments of interior bead board wall covering at ground floor, and brick foundation wall. The 9 over 6 window pattern is based on nailing patterns found on the internal window framing. This pattern presently exists only at two other Savannah properties, the rear addition of the Berrien House on Broughton Street, and the James Skinner House at 303 East Liberty Street.