The district encompasses the first town plan presented in 1733 by Gen. James E. Oglethorpe, foundee of Britain's Georgian colony. Today Savannah retains much of this plan based on divisions also called wards, squares, and 'trustee lots.'
Most of the original squares remain and are surrounded by wondrous representations of buildings in the Georgian, Greek Revival, and Gothic styles. Notable buildings include the Owens-Thomas House built in 1818 (Oglethorpe square), the Beaux-Arts style Edmund Molyneux Mansion circa 1917 (Bull Street), the Spencer Woodbridge House built in 1795 (Habersham Street), and the 1853 Gothic Revival Greene House (Madison Square).
Important sites associated with the African-American community in the district include Beach Institute (East Harris St.), constructed in 1865 as the city's first black school, and the King-Tisdell Cottage (East Harris St.), the 1896 home of a working-class African American family.
