The Isle of Hope Historical Association notes that this property, on the site of an old horse car station, was purchased by Alexander Perry Solomon (1857-1933) in 1875 from Dr. Stephen F. Dupon (1822-1893). When Solomon built the house he named it Liberty Hall. The Solomon family were prominent Jewish merchants and wholesale grocers in Savannah. Alexander was a director of Liberty National Bank and Trust Company, and helped organize the Metropolitan Savings and Loan Company, which later merged with Citizens Loan Company to become Citizens Bank. He was also the president of the Tybee Artesian Water, Ice, and Lighting Company.
The original facade of the house featured a projected second floor porch. Later owners added the front steps, reconfigured the porch, and added the dormers.
Note: This replaces and updates a post originally made on 13 March 2019.
Isle of Hope Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house sits on a large lot just west of the Barbee house in the prior post, also across from the river, on the last section of the road before it turns right on leaves Isle of Hope. Alexander Grocers were well known in Savannah in their day.
My father’s older sister’s husband, Charlie Bell, was president of the Liberty National Bank for a number of years in the 1950’s and ’60’s. It later merged with Trust Company Bank of Georgia. That bank eventually merged with Sun Bank in Orlando FL to become SunTrust Bank. A few years ago SunTrust merged with BB&T out of North Carolina to become Truist Bank.
I worked for 35 years in the Trust Co. Bank’s downtown headquarters building (but not for the bank) on Johnson Square, just south of City Hall. That square was home for many years to the three main banks in Savannah: Liberty National/Trust Co./SunTrust; Savannah Bank & Trust (later First Union Bank); and Citizens & Southern Bank, which was formed from the merger of Citizens Bank and the Southern Bank across the street. It later became a statewide powerhouse headquartered in Atlanta, and after a merger with Signet Bank of Virginia became what is now known as Bank of America.