When the scaffolding comes down in February, the Telfair Academy’s cream color exterior will be replaced with a much bolder, luxurious design. The new exterior will reveal the original 1886 color—bold yellow, crowned in a false bronze finish along the cornice—the year the converted house opened as the South’s first art museum. The National Historic Landmark building, one of three sites that make up Telfair Museums, is located on Telfair Square.
 
Begun as a simple project to repaint the exterior of the building, Telfair Museums’ curators uncovered remarkable evidence that transformed a basic maintenance project into a far more intricate and interesting process of historic preservation. The museums’ curators called on preservation experts Francis Ford, a conservationist based in Charleston, and Matthew Mosca, a conservationist currently working on the restoration of the U.S. Capitol dome, to investigate the building’s color scheme.
 
“What they discovered was astonishing,” said Sonja Wallen, Telfair Museums’ Buildings Curator. “Instead of confirming the existing colors, the team’s cutting-edge techniques in paint analysis—paired with extensive research into the Telfair Academy’s recorded and pictorial history—revealed a very different design.”
 
Originally the private home of the Telfair family, the 1819 house was designed by British Architect William Jay for Alexander Telfair. As the last surviving member of the Telfair family, his sister Mary Telfair bequeathed the home to the Georgia Historical Society on her death in 1875, with the provision the mansion become the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences. An addition built on the back of the family home, along with other modifications, converted the original structure from a single-family residence to a museum. The Telfair Academy opened to the public in 1886, making it the oldest public art museum in the South, and one of the oldest in the United States.
 
The Academy features a permanent exhibit, Mansion to Museum, which highlights this transformation, and introduces visitors to Mary Telfair, who lived from 1791 to 1875, and her family, as well as the enslaved people who lived and worked at the house. The role of Carl Brandt, the first director, and others who helped transform the aristocratic private home into an art academy after her death is explained through period photographs and informative panels. Decorative and fine arts purchased by the family and the first art advisors are also featured.
 
New Tours at Telfair Academy  
 
Following Telfair Museums’ successful guided tour program at the Owens-Thomas House, museum visitors will now have the opportunity to also visit the Academy on a guided tour.
 
“People come to Savanah to learn about history,” said Tania Sammons, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Historic Sites. “While the Academy features many wonderful examples of fine and decorative arts, the stories behind those objects and the architecture tell a complex and compelling history about Savannah, and the people who lived and worked at the site, and those who helped create this unique historic art museum.”
 
Beginning now, general tours will be offered every day at the following times: 10 am, 12 pm, 2pm and 4 pm. An additional exhibition-specific tour featuring more in-depth explorations of the fine and decorative arts on view will be offered at 1pm. All tours are free with admission.