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Eugenia C. & James H. Johnston House

Behind the brick and ironwork of Savannah’s Historic District, houses hold their own quiet biographies—of people, paper trails, and the everyday life that outlasts any single decade.

This historic guide shares a few story beats and archival glimpses—meant to be read with a morning coffee, before you step out toward Lafayette Square.

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A note on sources

Sources and archival references are listed at the bottom for readers who enjoy going deeper.

A late‑19th‑century Savannah house, still lived in

The Johnston House sits in the Lafayette Square neighborhood—one of Savannah’s most walkable, tree‑shaded corners, where the city feels both elegant and easy.

A Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission historic building supplement (1973) lists 217 and 219 E Charlton St with a construction year of 1890—placing the house firmly in the late‑19th‑century city that guests come to experience.

  • •Built-era context: 1890 (per MPC historic supplement listing for 217 & 219).
  • •Today, the house is arranged as four private residences across four floors—one on the ground floor, and three more above, reached from a shared entry landing and common area at the 217 stair.
  • •From this block, Savannah opens up on foot: squares, galleries, cafés, and long, slow walks under live oaks.
A Sanborn map plate (1888) of the Lafayette Square area—an evocative snapshot of the neighborhood’s late‑19th‑century fabric.
A Sanborn fire‑insurance map detail (1898) showing building footprints along E Charlton Street a few years later.

A house with a long memory

In Savannah, a “house history” isn’t only grand events—it’s porch steps worn smooth, a familiar name recurring in old ledgers, and the way a neighborhood keeps its character even as the city changes around it.

An early photograph highlighting porch and stair details—the kind of everyday architecture that gives Savannah its rhythm.

The Johnston House is part of that lived texture: a historic address, a family name, and a place that still welcomes people home at the end of the day.

Tip

Tap any photo to enlarge it.

People: Eugenia C. & James H. Johnston

The building’s name today is the Eugenia C. & James H. Johnston House—two names that belong together in the story of this address.

A library-cataloged railroad-history compilation is attributed to James Houstoun Johnston—suggesting the kind of person who cared about how cities connect, move, and grow.

Portrait labeled as James H. Johnston—the namesake most often associated with the house.

Marion Johnston—remembered as Eugenia and James’s daughter—is named as “Miss Eugenia Marion Johnston” in a published account of the Georgia Society of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America’s early founding group (1893).

A Johnston family monument—an echo of a Savannah family story that extends beyond any single address label.

A small detail you’ll see in old records

You may see Johnston records with “Houstoun” or “Houston” as the middle name. We keep spellings as sources present them.

On Charlton Street

Charlton Street has that particular Savannah feeling: brick underfoot, filtered light through live oaks, and façades that look almost unchanged at a glance—until you notice the details.

An older photograph of the house is labeled “217–219 E. Charlton,” a reminder that historic homes can carry more than one number across time and entrances.

A historic photograph labeled “217–219 E. Charlton.”

Archival glimpses: documents and records

If you love old paper—the texture, the handwriting, the way a city once recorded itself—these are for you.

They aren’t just “documents.” They’re glimpses of the world around this house: what was recorded, what was valued, and how a name appears in public life.

Documents

Tap any document to zoom.

A yearbook page from Yale (1849) with “J. H. Johnston” visible—an early glimpse of the Johnston name in print.
A marriage certificate for Eugenia C. and James H. Johnston—one of the most personal documents in the archive, and a reminder that every “house name” begins as a real family story.
A handwritten tax ledger page from the era before the 1890 build date listed for 217–219—showing how the city kept track of names, property, and value.
An obituary clipping referencing “Capt. J. H. Johnston”—a small window into how a name appeared in Savannah’s public record.
A military headstone application that references the Porter family—shared here as a clue in the home’s later story. The Porter family is believed to have owned the building before the Taylors, who sold it to the Butlers in 1964.
A 1964 deed book entry naming Freddie A. Butler as grantee—an anchor document in the Butler family’s connection to the neighboring building (219).

Stay somewhere with a story

Savannah’s best history isn’t behind glass. It’s the walk home through the squares, the sound of the city settling down, and the feeling of staying in a place that has seen a century turn—more than once.

We’d love to host you at the Johnston House.

Continue exploring

If you’re planning a visit, you can compare residences by floor and find the best fit for your stay.

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Sources / Further reading

We keep this list short on purpose. These are the most stable, high-authority references used for the careful claims above.