Boykin, Maj. Francis, House

Nichols writes in the Early Architecture of Georgia that there were a group of houses in and around Milledgeville, Georgia, which although "exhibit a splendor which is in no way self-conscious and far from ostentatious, they indicate a striving for, and a thoroughly successful solution to, the prosperous planter's desire for a richer life."

The group which includes the Ormes-Crawford House, ca. 1821, Westover, ca. 1822, Lowther Hall, ca. 1823, and the Blount House, ca. 1822, have been decimated by fire and demolition (Westover and Lowther Hall). Boykin Hall is all the more important than a surviving example of this period.

Major Francis Boykin acquired the land on which Boykin Hall is situated in 1785. It is probable that either he or his son, Dr. Samuel Boykin, built the house in ca. 1821. Dr. Boykin gave up his medical practice that year to manage the plantation. Although 1830 is sometimes given as the construction date of the house, stylistically it belongs to the earlier period. Boykin Hall is attributed to Daniel Pratt, architect (1799-1873).

There is little documentary evidence related to Pratt's work in Savannah or Milledgeville. A eulogy given at the time of Pratt's death in 1873, and contained in a later biography of Pratt by Tarrant published in 1904, states that "he followed the business of housebuilding" and refers to a dwelling house he erected near Milledgeville (thought to be the Grantland-Stevenson House). The eulogy further states that Pratt had been in Savannah prior to 1821 (he supposedly arrived here from Boston in 1819).

Among the architects and builders working in Savannah at the time was Isaiah Davenport, a conservative builder who had settled in Savannah from New England a decade earlier and was engaged in the flourishing building trade. Most of his houses were brick and conservative in style. His entranceways had delicate fanlights and sidelights supplied by a carpenter named Abraham Vreeland. The interiors have an entrance hall separated from the stairhall by an arch supported by pilasters or whole columns if the room permits. Two large principal rooms and two smaller rooms completed the plan. The striking similarities in entrance hall design, plaster decoration, and window enframements and panels between the Davenport House (1820), the Selleck House (1821) in Savannah, and the Blount House, Westover, and Boykin Hall in Middle Georgia cannot be overlooked. If indeed Pratt worked in Savannah, a likely employer was Isaiah Davenport. Examination of the account books of Vreeland may shed further light on Pratt's work.