Telfair Academy

The art was impressive, and you could really tell how each piece tells a story. The museum offers a narrated tour by Mike or another assigned guide, and they made the experience so much better. He answered all our questions, super impressive and knowledgeable. The art is very well preserved, with a mix of antique and modern paintings. I definitely recommend asking for the narrators; they make a huge difference and help you learn more in a fun, engaging way.

Another great art museum — has some pretty amazing famous older pieces that really pair well with the more modern work at the other center. A good range from classical to 20th century, and some contemporary work in other mediums. They also do a good job of contextualizing the role of slavery and race in the artwork and construction of Savannah, I think.

Due to a disability, I only visited the first floor. While there *is* an elevator, it’s extremely small and quite old, so I chose not to use it. That was my personal decision, of course. My four-star rating is mainly because I found it to be quite pricey overall. There’s a lot of wonderful artwork to enjoy and immerse yourself in. The description plaques are well done, and I appreciated that each piece was displayed in a way that was easy to see, with plenty of space for everyone to view and enjoy.

Fine art and sculpture throughout the Tel fair Academy. Beautiful paintings from a wide variety of genres. This site includes the famous "bird girl" statue, kept safe and protected for proper viewing. Enjoy your time here, highly recommended.

Seeing the famous Bird Girl statue amongst the other preeminent works housed in this beautiful and historic building was one of the highlights of our visit to Savannah! The collection here is truly amazing and spaciously curated to encourage an unrushed and contemplative experience.

Logical visit when you buy tickets for the Owens-Thomas house when visiting Savannah. Nice, calm, quiet. Not spectacular. Definitely needs a bit more background stories that it currently does not have, such as the story of the house. But, ChatGPT is your friend and can build you a tour through the house on-demand

Thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful space with sculptures, paintings, and other pieces. The rooms are open and airy, not overstuffed with too many pieces to look at. Also a lovely size, it’d be hard to lose yourself in this space compared to other larger museums. A perfect mid-day getaway!

Worth it just to see Bird Girl, which, let's face it, is their prized piece of art. The rest is an interesting/eclectic mix of European period art, local folk art and of course, a bit of local history thrown in. The building is a house donated by a wealthy widow of a local family, which is kind of cool to learn about and see. Don't miss the gift shop if you love Bird Girl as much as I do!

I took two tours with Old Savannah Tours and one was a ghost tour. The ghost tour happened to grant you access to the first floor of the Telfair. Go figure! Apparently the Telfair belonged to a woman who hated men and this woman to this day happens to haunt the museum. Personally I can't say anything weird happened at the museum, but the guide had said she had had weird things happen to her in the past. At any rate, the art collection is lovely and it made me wish I had had time to go back and visit the other floors or the Telfair. Definitely something on my list for my next visit to Savannah.

Cute little museum thats part of a trio of museums. It's fairly small but still has some great art work on display.

Fairly standard smallish art museum situated in a nice historic house. Part of the 3-for package with the Owens-Thomas house and the Jeppson Art museum. Expect to spend about an hour here. The highlight is the famous black marble statue of the girl from the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil." All said, this art museum does fit well with the general tourist theme that is Savannah. The art here is more of the standard old paintings and sculptures of the 18th century. The Jeppson art museum houses more contemporary art pieces.

Small and charming art museum in a converted historic house. An elevator makes disabled access easy to all 5 floors. The famous Bird Girl from Bonaventure Cemetery is here for safekeeping. Figure about an hour to see everything. One admission allows you to also see the Jepson Center as well as the Owens Thomas House. A good value for all 3 places and the admission ticket is valid for a week, so you don't need to rush to see everything in one day (unless that's your jam). Recommended!

Not a fan. Big admission price to see the bird girl statue that used to be public. Not a fan at all. Skip it.

It's not bad. Not great either. Worth a visit though! I thought about a quarter of the art on display was really interesting. The gift shop, like every gift shop in Savannah is totally worthless.

The two ladies sitting at the desk were extremely rude. First, they didn't speak when we entered. My husband and I were looking for one of a kind trinkets and felt like this would offer a unique experience. While we were looking at the items, in the shop, one lady yelled at us asking if we already purchased tickets for the museum. Who knew you had to purchase tickets to go into a souvenir shop--not the actual museum. From the little bit we did see, it was underwhelming and I wouldn't dare waste a penny on anything in there--including walking through it. Poor customer service. Overpriced. Unnecessary

What a wonderful little art museum in the heart of Savannah. Yes it is small. No it is not the Louvre. But it was a very classy mansion about 150 years ago. And now it is home to many pieces of great artwork. My favorite part is the main gallery because it houses some of the oldest paintings on display but also there is a comfy couch that offers 360 degree views of the art while classical music plays over the speakers, transporting you to Savannah of the 1800s. Definitely worth a visit!

This is a nice thing to do if you've been to Savannah a million times, or staying for a long time, or just want to see the bird girl because you're a fan of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil AKA THE BOOK! The architecture and the history is cool. When you buy a ticket, you get 3 locations for $20, which is awesome. You get the Telfair Academy, Jepson Center and the Owens House and Slave Quarters. The do give a military discount. There is street parking around the square.

Beautiful/massive exhibit+ entry at this exhibit gets you access to two other museums so well worth the price. Feels very special to be in the presence with some of the pieces and quite historic being the first southern art museum!

I very much enjoyed this museum. All the paintings were old and historic - nothing new. After walking around in the Georgia summer, it was nice to go inside and cool off. There is ample seating and open space to view everything without getting in someone else's way. My favorite part was the dining room setup.

This was the last of the 3 Telfair properties we visited, and full disclosure, we were on a time crunch. We had about 30 minutes and got through it pretty quickly. First off, they have reserved parking, which is awesome. You just park in one of the designated spots and then go inside to get a pass to put on your dash. Like the Owens house, they have an audio tour that is included. You go to the numbers and press play on your phone. The overviews are brief, which I liked and they gave you just enough info that if you are really interested, you can research later or at the physical exhibit in front of you. The highlight of the house for me was the rotunda with the large art. A large portion of the third floor was under construction, so wasn't open.

We visited this museum on a Saturday morning when they opened (at 9 a.m.). You were still required to wear a mask while inside (likely due to local government mandates). The ticket you buy entitles you to visit 3 museums: the Telfair Academy, the Jepsom Gallery, and a 3rd location (some sort of slave quarters?). We were only available to visit museums for the same day, and they noted when we bought our ticket that the slave quarters required advance reservations and / or an up to 1-hour wait... We first visited the Academy. It is spread over 3 floors, with interesting architecture and period furniture. We spent over an hour here looking at the art. They mostly have paintings from the 1800s and early 1900s. There is also some sculpture. The architecture of the old mansion is interesting too. They also have the famous 'bird girl' statue on display. This is a worthwhile place to visit for its art. We took a lunch break and then visited the Jepsom Gallery. This was much more oriented to modern art and was not as interesting, IMO. We did cover this museum on all floors, but it was not as interesting as the first one. We did not have time to visit their 3rd location. If you have time, I think the Telfair Academy building is worth checkign out.

I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked to during my visit because I had an appointment to get to, but I did get enough of a glimpse to say the art and sculptures are worth the trip. The tour is self guided and again, with usage of an audio guide accessed from your smartphone. Here is additional info to describe the museum found on Wikipedia -- "The Telfair Academy is a historic mansion at 121 Barnard Street in Savannah, Georgia. It was designed by William Jay and built in 1818, and is one of a small number of Jay's surviving works. It is one of three sites owned by Telfair Museums. Originally a family townhouse belonging to the Telfair family, it became a free art museum in 1886, and thus one of the first 10 art museums in America, and the oldest public art museum in the South. Its first director, elected in 1883, was artist Carl Ludwig Brandt, who spent winters in Savannah. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976."

Visiting Savannah for the first time, we checked out both the Jepson Center and the Telfair Academy. We enjoyed our time at the two-story, 200-year old mansion that sits in the historic district of Savannah. Inside the 19th century-period rooms are a wealth of American and European art, all of which makes for a well-worth visit if you're into historical buildings and art museums. Currently, the oldest public art museum in the South and the first in the U.S. founded by a woman, the Telfair will take you in with its architectural design and vast works of art that Mary Telfair accumulated throughout her life. The mansion itself includes several rooms with a very regal but European sophistication.

This was a unique chance to visit downtown Savannah and check out the Telfair Museum. This was actually part of a stop on a ghost tour I was on which was an added perk. The museum is interesting to see, but my group was limited to the area to visit. If you'd like to see the full location, I would suggest you book a tour of the museum directly.

Savannah...you don't come here for the art, or at least very few people do. However, it was raining like crazy all afternoon, and we just wanted to be somewhere indoors, with AIR CONDITIONING! Added Bonus: the art was pretty good too! I'm no art history major or a self taught hippy painter, but appreciate a good painting, elegant sculpture, or the weird modern pieces that old conservatives can't stand. $20 per an adult, but that also gets you into a couple other attractions too, such as the historical Owens House.

This museum was so cool. It has 5 floors of art and rooms filled with original furniture pieces and art that some dated to the 17th century. It took us about an hour to get through it all, but it was well worth it. I will go back again.

Literally so confused how this beautiful museum has anything less than 5 stars...? Its a lovely mix of curated 1800s-1900s art and you get a peak at the architecture and living quarters at that time. It's a mix of so many beautiful modalities. It has 3 floors and gorgeous furniture to sit and gaze at some awe inspiring pieces. To be fair, we came on the Savannah Locals day so our tickets were free but I would go and gladly pay the 20+$ to spend an hour or two.

I eagerly anticipated my visit here because every time I've been in Savannah over the years, my timing never worked out. I made it a point, this time, to come to Savannah just to come here. Maybe my expectations were too high but the Telfair is only fair. Sure, it's a great old building with a long history. The Rotunda Gallery is an expansive and impressive room to lounge about looking at the paintings on the wall. The upstairs galleries are tiny, though, and bumping into other visitors can't be helped. Currently, the 'Bird Girl' sculpture made famous from being on the cover of the novel 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' is the reason many folks visit Telfair at all. Honestly, the girl looks out of place here and I wish she were back at Bonaventure Cemetery. If you're looking for the bulk of the better paintings and sculpture, take the stairs down to the basement. Basement is the applicable term here because the large room looks more suited to bake sales and PTA meetings than a place for art. Get past, though, and there are some very good works from the 19th and 20th centuries. My favorite is the giant sculpture, 'Laocoön and His Sons.' When the United States was younger, acquiring art meant obtaining plaster copies of iconic European originals. It was common practice. The marble original of this one, dating from the early first century, resides at The Vatican in Rome. This plaster cast copy dates to around 1893 and it looks a bit lost down here. It deserves a more dramatic space.

This museum, which was included in the ticket price for the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, provided a diversion while we waited for our tour time. We had just over and hour and were told that was sufficient to view the Telfair, which was about a 10-minute walk away. It was a rushed visit but we did get to see everything in this small museum. That included a hodgepodge of paintings, statues, and furniture. It was a satisfactory diversion but not one I'd recommend unless you have an art interest. There wasn't much in each format or style, so the Telfair was more a sampler of artists you've likely not heard of. There were no Monets, Mattises, Rembrandts, Da Vincis, or Remingtons for example. Tours are self guided.

I was very glad to have gone to a museum before leaving Savannah. When you purchase a ticket at the Telfair Academy, you gain access to two other museums. I did not imagine how beautiful it was inside the museum. The art collection and exhibits were also very good. If you haven't come here, I would suggest checking it out! It's a good way to spend a few hours in your morning/afternoon.

Telfair is must if you're an art lover visiting Savannah. This museum is has a variety of classic art from around the 1800s-1900s. This museum is a nice choice if you're not into modern art. Telfair is one of the most beautiful museums I've visited. From the art to the furniture, everything is impeccable. I could sit in here all day just admiring the beauty of the building. There are three floors in total showcasing different art styles. I highly recommend visiting Telfair if you're looking for something to do and want to see some spectacular art and architecture.

The correct name for this collection is the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences. And if that isn't impressive enough, consider that this is the oldest public art museum in the South and the first art museum in America founded by a woman, Mary Telfair. By the way, Miss Mary is said to haunt the building, shaking paintings on the walls from time to time. I noticed several one and two star reviews of this institution. Well, no accounting for taste! If you're expecting huge, rambling exhibitions that boggle the mind, then perhaps those lesser reviews may be accurate, at least in the eyes of the reviewers. But if you're looking for a truly eclectic collection of not only fine art but photographs, furniture, porcelain, personal memorabilia and statuary, to say nothing of the magnificent architecture, then the five stars I awarded are more than justified. There are three floors (including the basement) of galleries, all worthy of your perusal. On the second floor, the family's bed rooms have been converted to display many of the objects of the permanent collection plus small, temporary visits. Many of the family's memorabilia are in these galleries. Four galleries compose the ground floor: the Octagon Room, the Dining Room, the Drawing Room and the Rotunda Gallery. The Octagon Room was used for receiving guests in the earlier years of the house and as a sitting room in later years. Like the Dining and Drawing Rooms, it contains much of the home's original furniture, all of which is beautifully preserved. The Rotunda Gallery dominates the ground floor. With the exception of two pianos and a round cushioned seating area, the room is devoted to oil paintings, including one of Miss Mary Telfair. One look and you know she was not one to be trifled with; she, indeed, looks as if she would be perfectly capable of haunting the house! The basement area consists of the kitchen and the Sculpture Gallery. The kitchen is an excellent representation of the era in which it operated. Even the soot in the fireplace is original! After viewing all the implements needed to cook a meal for the Telfairs, anyone who appreciates the culinary arts will be thankful they live in this day and age! The Sculpture Gallery is a wonderful collection of copies of both Greek and Roman works. Of particular interest are "Laocoon and HIs Sons" and "The Dying Gaul." Don't let the negative reviews keep you from visiting the Telfair Academy; just enter with an open mind and be prepared to be rewarded by this unique collection. I believe you'll consider your visit time very well spent.

I can't say that the collection is all that impressive, especially because the impressionist works aren't on display right now. We enjoyed our visit, though, mainly because of our engaging tour guide, Jackie. She told the story of Mary Telfair in a way that made the founder of the museum come alive. She also did a great job of explaining how the Telfair home had been transformed into the museum.

Fantastic museum with a couple of very large-format paintings. Excellent small collection, and you get a second museum and parking for free!

The museum was beautiful. You can get through it in 30 mins. The pictures invoked emotions. I recommend going. However, the girl at the front desk was awful. My friend asked her to repeat herself because she couldn't hear through her mask and the plexiglass. The girl then preceded to yell at us. Every question she asked or answered she yelled and spoke slowly as if we were def and dumb. I would never want her as the face of any type of business. It happened as we were checking out and buying stuff. And continued for several mins. Had it happened in the beginning, we wouldn't have gone in. Not an example of southern hospitality. More like a spoiled brat.

Beautiful exhibits in a smaller venue. Worth the admission price as you get to visit three sites.

I'll be honest, we only came to see the bird girl statue which we did. We were in a rush so didn't take the time to see anything else. The room we did see had interesting information about the cemetery here which we had visited two of the four mentioned.

A great place to see beautiful art works. In the 3rd floor they have a great big room with huge paintings and some music in ot..its my fav place to go to when ever i dont feel right or sad

Came here with the Ghost tours... it was just "meh"... the security said they've never seen any ghost or anything that seemed creepy. So not impressed. Though the painting of the circle of life was pretty neat. I wouldn't have paid $20 to come here... way overpriced.

This museum is one of three that are run "together" your ticket includes admission to all of them. The Jepsen Art Museum and the Owens Thomas house museum. Overall each museum is smallish but interesting. This one has the least amount to see of the three. Staff at all museums were very friendly and nice, it's a fun way to spend some time on a hot day but if you have limited time I wouldn't select this as a must see.

If you like small house museums, this is the place for you. Are there Monet and Degas? Nope. BUT it's a lovely house and they have a delightful collection of local art (especially American impressionists, probably about 30 works). They also have some small historical exhibits and period rooms. The nearby affiliated Jepson Center has a nice rotating collection of modern work. Is this museum by itself worth the price admission? Probably not. But it also gets you into two other museums (the Jepson, which does modern art, and the Owens-Thomas House, a period museum which does tours). I didn't do Owens-Thomas, but I felt like the combined value of the Jepson and the Academy close enough.

Wonderful museum in a renovated period setting. Self guided tour and easy to navigate.

Get the combo ticket and go to Telfair for older art, Jepson for modern art, and Owens for a restored historic house. None is spectacular in itself. Remember, this is Savannah, not a huge city like Washington or NYC with awesome museums. But there are some gems to be seen and, if you're lucky, an interesting special exhibition might be up when you visit.

The featured Impressionist exhibit had a line, but it moved quickly. Wasn't too impressed with it or the other exhibits either. Savannah museums offer free admission for museums on the second Sunday of the month, so that was nice.

Imagine if someone in your small town decided to open a museum. Fund it, find someone to build a collection that would be interesting (and potentially valuable, one assumes), build it, and maintain it. Oh, and it's immediately after the American Civil War, and although the Met (NY) and the MFA in Boston exist, it's not like there's a lot in the way of art collections available to the public, particularly in the South. Particularly collections made public by women (Mary Telfair). So, yeah, it's pretty damn impressive that the Telfair Academy came into being in the first place, let alone to develop into the Telfair Museums, joining with the Jepson (Modern art, with loads of special exhibits of varying quality), which makes its own, distinct and powerful architectural statement; and the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters. That said, Telfair is pretty small and I've never been able to visit when / if they have any special exhibits. It's not necessarily an exceptional collection, particularly if you have access to museums in larger places...but if you don't, it might be worth a visit. Most people come here specifically to see Bird Girl. So...um...yeah.

Local art museum with primarily 19th century artwork that is housed in a beautiful early 19th century historic home. Worthwhile seeing if you're an art museum fanatic, but you won't see anything that's significant here.

This was a cool old house turned into a museum. We wouldn't have gone here if it wasn't part of a 3 museum package. There were some cool things but if you don't have extra time I think this one is easy to skip.

Beautiful building, not really a lot of organization in my opinion but I still enjoyed walking around and taking everything in. Gorgeous art, not my favorite museum but a good way to kill some time.

Small but very nice and located in a wonderful, old building. It took us about an hour to soak in the art. Some really nice pieces from American impressionists.

Really neat museum that gives a lot of historical information about Savannah. We did the 3 museum tour and really enjoyed it that way, very full and exhausting day though.

A real gem and a must-see attraction in Savannah, the oldest art museum in the South, brimming with rich offerings of art, history and architecture, don't miss it during your time in Savannah!

It's true that Telfair is rather small and that certain folks would probably consider it a stretch to describe it as an art gallery/museum, but it still houses a fairly nice collection of artwork by some both famous and lesser-known artists, as well as some local names familiar to the Savannah art scene. Clearly, no one would confuse it with MOMA, but its intimacy and quirkiness in no way should be considered a detraction from what it is- a great little "must see" stop on anyone's list who is coming to Savannah for the first time, as well as a "local flavor" highlight for long-time denizens of this beautiful, historic city. I think Telfair is a "bucket list" kind of place, somewhere you should visit at least once and check off the "list" even though it's not the Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace. Admission is by no means free and the price has risen a bit over the years, but I don't think that the cost is so exorbitant to complain about in the way that some people do. Look at how much money people throw away on things like cigarettes and lotto tickets. There are far more expensive luxuries in life than admission to Telfair. Hit up one of the huge museums in NYC, Boston or Chicago and then see what I mean. The first time that I saw the famous "Bird Girl Statue" (popularized by the publication of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") of Savannah was right here in the Telfair. I loved it.

This beautiful museum displayed historic rooms as they were in their prime. My jaw dropped when we entered the gallery to see the expansive space and beautiful works of art. This is a must see in Savannah, not to mention a great deal getting access to 3 museums for $20.

The Telfair Museum of Art isn't the largest collection we've visited by any stretch, but the quality of the works is top-notch, and not having acres and acres of gallery to walk through meant that we could spend more time enjoying the excellent pieces on display. The staff were most helpful and we don't at all regret the few hours that we spent here.

A nice collection of mostly American artists housed in a historical home that has been converted to a museum. My wife and I decided to use the remaining portions of our tickets after we visiting the Owens Thomas house with guests over the weekend. We enjoyed the remaining well preserved rooms and appreciate it the care taken to integrate the expansion of the house into a intimate art expository. Definitely a nice addition to the Owens Thomas House.

We saw the Telfair museums had a Monet so decided to visit. We had to buy a pass to three places: Tellfair academy, Jepson Center and Owens-Thomas house - cost was $38.52 for two seniors - wasn't keen on that. Jepson center was very modern looking. Monet exhibit was very nice, had several other artists as well. you could really get close to the art. Rest of exhibits at Jepson were ok. Went to Telfair musem, initially not impressed - first floor was period dining room, etc (*yawn). Went into basement - sculptures were impressive. Ok, they were plaster casts of originals at the Vatican, but still impressive. When you look at the detail you have to wonder how they did that. These copies are also hundreds of years old. very impressive. Then went to top floor- also impressive - room has to be 30 ft high. one painting was 20" by 30' - whoa, how does someone do that. Several striking paintings. Sculptures and this room make this a worthwhile stop. Last was the Owens-thomas house. When we arrived (around 1 pm) were told had to be on guided tour and next tour was at 3:30. There was no self guided option. We were only in savannah a short time and decided to leave. Overall, with the Monet exhibit this was a 4 star. Without would be a 3.

We travel to many cities, even smaller ones like Savannah, and visit art museums regularly using our reciprocal membership in the North American Art Museum Association. Last week we went to visit this one and were turned away at the door. We did not have our membership card (last minute packing snafu) but it was clear that the receptionist was more concerned with our looks than our membership card. The membership card could have been verified by a simple phone call-long distance costs nothing anymore-but the two young ladies at the front desk said that verification couldn't be done. It's unfortunate that we couldn't see this small collection. I think the staff needs to consider being a little less exclusive and a little more inclusive. There was a strong sense of snobbery and discrimination that we don't typically see at other art museums.