1 min
Listening Station 5: Back Porch Telfair Museums Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters Audio Tour
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- History
The rear entrances to the house, on the porch and in the basement below, would have been the primary access points for enslaved laborers. Family members and tradesmen also would have used this back entrance and the rear hall. Other guests, however, were welcomed at the front of the house.
Richard Richardson’s home would have made quite an impression on these guests. Its location on a large lot on Oglethorpe Square made a statement about the Richardsons’ place within society. Around 1816, Richardson hired an architect, his relative William Jay, to design the building. Trained in London, Jay designed a home in keeping with fashions in England, freely using motifs inspired by ancient Greek and Roman architecture on the interior and exterior. Jay went on to design several other homes in the city, including what is now the Telfair Academy. John Retan, whose name is inscribed in mortar underneath the front porch stairs, supervised construction. It is not known how many individuals, including enslaved laborers, built this home.
One of the key elements of early 19thcentury architecture was symmetry. This is especially apparent here, where a blind, non-functional window on the right side of the porch balances the usable window on the left. As you move through the house, look for other places where pairs of architectural elements have been designed, even where they may not have an obvious function. Please proceed into the rear hall and move to your right to continue your tour.
The rear entrances to the house, on the porch and in the basement below, would have been the primary access points for enslaved laborers. Family members and tradesmen also would have used this back entrance and the rear hall. Other guests, however, were welcomed at the front of the house.
Richard Richardson’s home would have made quite an impression on these guests. Its location on a large lot on Oglethorpe Square made a statement about the Richardsons’ place within society. Around 1816, Richardson hired an architect, his relative William Jay, to design the building. Trained in London, Jay designed a home in keeping with fashions in England, freely using motifs inspired by ancient Greek and Roman architecture on the interior and exterior. Jay went on to design several other homes in the city, including what is now the Telfair Academy. John Retan, whose name is inscribed in mortar underneath the front porch stairs, supervised construction. It is not known how many individuals, including enslaved laborers, built this home.
One of the key elements of early 19thcentury architecture was symmetry. This is especially apparent here, where a blind, non-functional window on the right side of the porch balances the usable window on the left. As you move through the house, look for other places where pairs of architectural elements have been designed, even where they may not have an obvious function. Please proceed into the rear hall and move to your right to continue your tour.
1 min