Hamilton Turner Inn

When Samuel Pugh Hamilton’s mansion first lit its rooms with electricity, the glow drew people to Lafayette Square. The house, completed in 1873, was among Savannah’s most conspicuous residences, and Hamilton’s work with the Brush Electric Light & Power Company connected domestic architecture to a technology still new to the city. In 1883, the residence became Savannah’s first home with electric lighting.

Hamilton was a naval officer, businessman, and city alderman. His house announced both private wealth and public modernity: the Second Empire-style building sat beside one of Savannah’s central squares, its roofline and mansard form visible to passersby. The installation of electric light turned the windows into a demonstration. What had been an unseen household utility became a spectacle that neighbors could watch from the street.