Savannah Cotton Exchange

The Savannah Cotton Exchange is marked by its distinct Romanesque revival architecture, defined by red brick and terra cotta detailing that set it apart from its surroundings when it opened in eighteen eighty-seven. Designed by the Boston architect William Gibbons Preston, who won a competition against eleven other architects to secure the commission, the building is one of the few structures in the world constructed directly over an existing public street. By elevating the facility on iron pillars thirty-five feet above the ground, the designers ensured that the busy waterfront thoroughfare of River Street remained accessible to the trade traffic passing beneath it.