The Savannah Arts Academy building is located on a site that was originally planned as a luxury tourist hotel called the Hotel Georgia. The developers envisioned the Hotel Georgia to "be a palace outside and inside. The grounds will be a dream of beauty."The hotel was to be located at the apex of the Chatham Crescent, a long, sweeping crescent-shaped drive.
Work began on the hotel on August 15, 1912, but due to litigation, steel shortages, funding problems and architectural changes, the foundation sat unfinished for about 20 years.
The Works Progress Administration , in the midst of the Great Depression , expressed interest in the site for use as the new Savannah High School. Permits were granted, construction began, and Savannah High School was dedicated on June 15, 1937.
After 61 years on Washington Avenue, Savannah High School classes were moved to a new building on Pennsylvania Avenue, leaving the structure available for the newly formed Savannah Arts Academy for the school year beginning August 1998.
