Historic Savannah Foundation has been awarded a $2,500 grant from the National Trust Preservation Fund to kickstart the restoration of the City of Savannah’s Powder Magazine.  The Powder Magazine was designed by famous Savannah architects Alfred S. Eichberg and Hyman Witcover and commissioned by Mayor P.W. Meldrim. Local mason, John Eason, completed the gothic-style structure in November 1898. and it was used to store explosive powder, artillery ammunition, and eventually dynamite. The Savannah Powder Magazine was closed in 1963, due to the expense of operation and lack of funding, and has remained abandoned ever since.

This is the only municipal powder magazine still in existence in Georgia.  HSF’s collaboration with the City of Savannah and the Friends of the Powder Magazine led to a successful grant application which will help pay for a conditions assessment that will guide the restoration of the City of Savannah’s Powder Magazine.  “This was a highly competitive grant round, and we are honored to have been selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  It means that this project has national significance and its preservation be another feather in Savannah’s hat,” said Daniel Carey, President and CEO of HSF. “We will be appealing for matching funds to proceed with restoration efforts, but this is an important and positive first step,” he concluded.

HSF saves buildings, places and stories that define Savannah’s past, present, and future. Following its formation in 1955, HSF started a Revolving Fund to save endangered historic properties. To date, HS has saved and protected more than 370 buildings throughout Savannah’s historic districts. HSF demonstrates the cultural, social and economic benefits of preservation as good public policy by proving that preservation and progress go hand-in-hand.