"The spectacular profits of cotton hypnotized the merchants of the port, and Savannah never became a diversified, middle-class community of factory workers and shopkeepers. The busy cotton commerce disguised the fact that Savannah traded in wealth but did not create wealth of her own." 

—Mills Lane 

The Alexander Augustus Smets House on Jones Street 

The Alexander Augustus Smets House, located at 2-4 West Jones Street, is another in the numerous commissions acquired by famous architect John S. Norris in Savannah in the mid-1800s. 

After being commissioned to design The Savannah Custom's House (see PFS-76) in 1843, Norris became one of the city’s busiest builders. In this Postcards from Savannah series of en Plein air paintings, I have painted several of Norris's significant designs in Savannah, including: 

— The Cockspur Island Lighthouse in 1849 (see PFS-37); 

— The Andrew Low House in 1849 (see PFS-43);  

— The Green-Meldrim House in 1853 (see PFS-61);  

— The Independent Presbyterian Church in 1855 (see PFS-73); 

— The Massie Common School House in 1855 (see PFS-72), and, of course;  

— The Mercer-Williams House in 1859 (see PFS-01). 

Designed in 1853, the Alexander A. Smets House is now Morris Hall, serving as the lecture rooms, labs, and offices for the Savannah College of Art and Design's fashion and luxury management departments. 

Alexander Smets was an original member and the Treasurer of the Georgia Historical Society (GHS) for an extended time. He was among a select group of learned men that made many contributions to the intellectual life of the Savannah community, including the founding of the GHS in 1839.  

The lives of many of these men, including Alexander Smets, were detailed in John Frederick Waring's 1973 book: Cerveau's Savannah. In this book, left unfinished due to his untimely death, Waring utilized Joseph Louis Firmin Cerveau's marvelous 1837-painting entitled View of Savannah — on display at the Georgia Historical Society's Hodgson Hall (see PFS-26) — to sketch profiles of the city's people and its community in the 1830s: to include the enslaved laboring in the city, its churches and ministers, the bloody duels and duelists, and active hustle & bustle of trade taking place in Savannah's mercantile life. 

Firmin Cerveau's 1837 painting of Savannah is in the form of a spectacular panoramic map of the port city at the height of its economic powers. 

Alexander Smets was born in France in 1795. In 1816, during a business trip to France, Savannah Merchant Charles Maurel persuaded Smets to accompany him back to Savannah. Smets stayed and quickly made for himself a successful life. Smets was an ardent reader, collector, and lover of books: possessing the most valuable private library in Savannah, including 2000 volumes. He died in 1862 and was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery, but later removed and reinterred in Bonaventure Cemetery.  

In 1883, the Harmonie Club, a Jewish men's social organization, originating in Savannah in 1865, purchased the Alexander Smets house. It remained a prominent Savannah social club until the 1950s. 

Jones Street is a historic street in Savannah, offering this painter many notable buildings and sites to record in oil, each with its own unique story. I suggest you stroll the entire street from Montgomery Street east all the way to East Broad Street to get the full taste of its unique and lovely flavor.