Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners [Hardcover]

Susan Sully (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2001

Savannah is a city of mercurial history and enigmatic charms. Home to cotton barons, shipping magnates, antiques dealers, and tireless preservationists, it has helped define Southern elegance, manner, and style for more than two centuries. From the slightly faded grandeur of the Second Empire baroque Thomas Levy House, filled with antique maps, prints, books, and other curiosities, to the phantasmal, Proustian decor of the high style Greek Revival Knapp House, the 20 houses featured in this book express the city's alternating moods of decadence and decorum. Quite often, a serene exterior-- designed in a Georgian, federal, or restrained Greek Revival style-- will relinquish its polite composure to an ingenious play of interior whimsy or flight of decorative fancy. Elegant town houses designed by William Jay, John Ash, Isaiah Davenport, and William Gibbons Preston, gracious plantation manors, and unpretentious summer cottages are featured in detail in word and image. A delightful foreword by John Berendt acts as an informative addendum to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and an excellent introduction to this book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Following the extremely popular Charleston Style, Susan Sully has brought us another book about a southern city, Savannah Style. In this collection of photographs and stories of 20 houses, inspired by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (who gives a charming introduction), she builds a dark atmosphere in words. Her writing is intelligent and lyrical, and brings to the mind images that, unfortunately, the photographs cannot compete with--oddly disconnected, they seem to be the result of a botched mandate to capture the rich shadiness of her writing. Most of the exteriors are too much in shadow to see details, and a suspicious yellow-orange cast looms over many of the interiors. Weighed down by its predecessor, Berendt's novel, and its gloomy photographs, Savannah Style seems to have too much weight to bear for one book. Still, the imagery of Sully's writing make this coffee-table book a surprisingly good read. --Juliette Cezzar

From Publishers Weekly

A Savannah gentleman, asked to explain his hometown, recently said, "This is a city where men own their own white tie and tails. We don't rent them." That, writer John Berendt notes in an introduction to Susan Sully's Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners, "says it all." Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil made the elegant Southern city a site of national fascination. Sully (Charleston Style) guides readers through its lavish architecture and interiors. Plantations, lush gardens, shady wicker-furnished porches, townhouses and parlors are invitingly presented, and their diverse styles which include Spanish, French, Asian, Federalist, English Arts and Crafts, Greek Revival, Baroque and Gothic influences are cogently explained. Those who love Southern architecture will welcome this book, and so will Berendt readers intrigued by Savannah and its secrets. 130 color, 20 b&w photos by Steven Brooke.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (July 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847823768
• ISBN-13: 978-0847823765
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 1 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Georgia
  • #73 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Interior Design > Style

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Intelligent, August 10, 2006

By 

Cindy L. Nielsen (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners (Hardcover)

Is it possible to be in love with a book? When I ordered Savannah Style, I could hardly wait for its arrival. I wasn't disappointed - in fact, it is even better than I anticipated, having read other reviews prior to purchase. The photographs are gorgeous and reflective, and entice one to have a certain mood when reading this wonderful book. And read it I did, because it is not only beautiful, but intelligent as well. Although Sully is intent on the mystery element of Savannah, it is still a beautiful book to own and love. The question is, 'When can I immigrate?'

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eccentric and Brooding, August 1, 2001

By 

Leslie B. Harding (WASHINGTON, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners (Hardcover)

I believe that the photographs capture the essence of Savannah. Susan Sully has provided us with a sketchbook of Savannah's mystery and charm. The over the top decorating schemes are perfectly matched to the quirky and brooding characters who inhabit these fabulous southern mansions. Every photograph evoked a glimpse of a place we would all secretly love to share.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely look inside Savannah homes, May 2, 2009

By 

Lisa S. "Kasey's mom" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners (Hardcover)

I purchased this book, intending to use it as a guest book for our upcoming destination wedding in Savannah. (Guests would sign the edges of the pages and we'd have a lovely coffee table book to look through when we returned home, filled with love and well-wishes from our guests.) While this book is beautiful and the photos are striking, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. The vast majority of the photos were of inside various homes. I was hoping to find a book that had more photos of the squares, riverfront, etc. Still a great book, though.