About the house

Where to start!

The space where the kitchen will be.

When we first entered the home at 432 Abercorn Street, we were hit with two thoughts. One was, this was a grand home once upon a time. And then second, oh my, this will need a lot of work. We've built a home before but being newbies at preservation and remodeling, we were naturally a little concerned with the amount of time, effort and money this project would take. Thankfully we were calmed along the way with others telling us of it's potential.

The home has not been lived in for at least 35 years. There are no bathrooms, no kitchen, the electricity and plumbing that is there is totally out of date and non-usable. But the "bones" of the house are good. We spent a month talking to several builders about the soundness and possible updates, getting a structural engineer's view of the property, checking on termite damage, plaster damage, roof condition and soundness of the side porches. We agreed it was a project we wanted to be involved in.

This home was loved by the previous owner and we want to make sure to restore it to its full potential. It just became too much of a burden and she had to give it up. Many have watched it over the years and many have wanted to purchase it so we feel lucky to be the new owners.

We retained Josh Ward as our architect and Sarah Ward as our preservation expert. After plans were

Exposed lath, water damage, and plaster ceilings and moldings will be repaired.

drawn up we went before the Savannah Historical Board of Review and were approved with some minor revisions. Then we started interviewing builders. There are so many wonderful builders in Savannah and our final choice was JAK Homes. Last step before we started construction was permitting which we now have. We're ready to begin!