Talk:The DeSoto

NRHP status

Thanks, Bubba73 for your helpful clarifying edit here about DeSoto's status: that neither old nor new DeSoto have been contributing buildings in the Savannah Historic District (Savannah, Georgia) (the HD). The current DeSoto was not yet built in 1966 when the HD was listed on the NRHP, and I don't believe / can't imagine it was added in any subsequent modification to the NRHP listing, so it cannot be a contributing building in the HD, I agree. I am not completely certain about the old, original DeSoto, whether it could possibly have still existed and be included as a contributing building. I'm not aware of a complete inventory of the HD, as is usually available for HD's listed later, like in the late 1970s or on. Are you aware of one? I had the impression from the HHA reference I guess that the old one was demolished in 1965 or so. But when I look I see only that "The original DeSoto closed its doors with a 75-year New Year’s Eve Diamond Jubilee Ball in 1965, sponsored by the Savannah Symphony Women’s Guild", without statement of demolition date. If demolition date before 1966 were verified, or if there was very public announcement/knowledge that the hotel was about to be demolished, that would also prove well enough that it could not have been recognized as contributing in the HD. I am guessing that the closure was accompanied by plans for it to be demolished and replaced, but it's also possible it was vacant and potentially save-able when the HD was listed. Can you possibly please refer me to any sources that go towards nailing this down, if you are aware of any? In absence of such nailing, I am actually confident that your statement is correct, but I'd still like for us to double-tap it if possible. --Doncram (talk) 01:49, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

I don't have a source. It isn't listed in the HD nomination form, and I assumed that it would be. It probably closed before the HD got designated, but the process could have been in the works while it still existed. So I don't have any better reason for saying that.

BTW, I stayed at the old hotel when I was a child. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:32, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Neat. The 1977 NHL HD document maybe is the first stab at trying to document the huge area designated NRHP and NHL in 1966, in the opening big batch of the NRHP program. Being written up in 1977 and not detailed, and about a vast area (2 sq miles, 1100 buildings) it wouldn't have mentioned a resource lost back in 1965-68 period. The modern DeSoto was clearly an intrusion at that time, and also is not specifically mentioned, but perhaps sort of referred to, within NRHP author's statement:

Old Savannah is not by any means perfect. It has intrusions into the continuity and spatial patterns of the plan. It has gasoline stations, gaping parking lots, crude commercial adaptations of fine old buildings, and an occasional building badly placed or out of scale with the rest. On the whole though, a great deal more is left of the best of Savannah's unique fabric of streetscapes, than is not, so that the occasional tear in the material is just another chore for the now-vigilant local guardians to recognize and repair.

About what to say, can/should say the modern hotel is not a contributing building. The original is obviously not a contributing building, now at least, either; that does not need to be said. --Doncram (talk) 04:10, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that something has to be at least 50 years old to be on the NRHP. The new one built in 1968 would not have been eligible until 2018. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:23, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

It seems to be the new one that is in the HHA. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:45, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Photo option

This one, from the early 20th century, is pretty decent. Seasider53 (talk) 21:24, 12 February 2022 (UTC)