A stone step on the edge of the sidewalk in front of the house transports onlookers to the days of dirt streets and carriages. The step provided carriage passengers a bridge to the sidewalk. To reach the house, visitors — then and now — must pass through one of two elaborately decorated gates that pierce a wrought-iron fence at each corner of the Barnard Street property. A short path at each gate entrance leads to circular stairs on each side of the massive front porch.

Four fluted columns topped with Corinthian capitals of a single acanthus leaf motif and two block piers at each corner extend nearly two stories, the original height of the structure. The six columns, topped by a horizontal stone band, give the dwelling the appearance of a Greek temple.

A mansard roof, constructed during a significant restoration of the house in the late 19th century, is largely hidden by the majestic magnolias in front of the house. A walk around the building reveals the Second Empire story, added to lodge a servant staff of five. The house is constructed of brick, stuccoed and scored.

The entrance hall floor is made of alternating gray and white Georgia marble squares laid on a diagonal pattern, with four wooden squared columns creating a central passageway. Looking up from this part of the hall reveals an elliptical opening surrounded by a decorative plaster frieze that extends upward to a skylight in the roof of the third story. This feature was added during the house’s late 19th century reconstruction.

The four original rooms of the first floor connect to the hall and include front and rear parlors on the north side of the house and a sitting room (in front) and dining room (in rear) on the south side of the mansion. The rear piazza was enclosed during the late 19th century restoration, which allowed for the addition of a bathroom behind the rear parlor and kitchen at the rear of the present dining room. A porch was added to the first floor during the 20th century.

Another significant change was the removal of the original stairway, which was located in the existing dining room. The exact configuration of the room remains a mystery, but while upgrading the electrical systems of the house in 1990, an electrician uncovered what he thought was a drawing.

Omar S. El Khalidi of Sterling Builders & Restoration, Inc. was asked to investigate the discovery. Under layers of paint and wallpaper, a trompe l’oeil mural (a painting created to simulate an object) was found on the walls and ceiling; in this case, the mural gave the impression that the room was made of oak.

“The artisan who originally painted the mural was very skilled,” El Khalidi said. “His talent is revealed in the details, such as the consistent painted oak graining with shadows and small plaster elements gilded and scattered throughout the ceiling (no longer intact),” he said. The whole effect was accented by a line of gilded crown molding that Sterling Builders was able to preserve.

Sterling Builders meticulously removed the paint and wallpaper to conserve the oak-grained walls, resulting in an amazing time capsule of mid-19th century American decor. Damaged or missing sections of the mural (such as a large space near the doorway leading to the sitting room) were painted brown. This part of the room may have been the original location of the stairway.

The original rooms on the first floor and hall are embellished with six beautifully gilded bronze gasoliers by the Philadelphia makers Cornelius and Company (1839-1851) or Cornelius and Baker (1851-69). Motifs on these original (or early) decorative light fixtures include angels, cherubs and fruit baskets.

According to Dot Griffin, former caretaker of the house, to have six fixtures by the famous 19th century manufacturer in one location is rare. They are also difficult and expensive to maintain.

“No one would touch the chandeliers in Savannah,” Griffin explained. “We had to get specialists from New Jersey (to clean and repair the fixtures).”

Other pieces that date to the early history of the house include a pair of matching mirrors and console tables and six gilded window valences. Black Italian marble mantels decorate the four original rooms, and all the doors on the first floor have silver-plated knobs.

False doors on each side of the double parlor, which is separated by pocket doors, add another interesting feature to the house. Created to give the rooms symmetry, the false doors look like the others on the first floor, complete with framing, silver-plated door knobs and fake wooden hinges. They beg to be opened.

The second floor has four bedrooms, two on each side of the elliptically-pierced hall (the two rooms on the south side are now used for meetings). In addition to solid doors at each room, original louvered doors are attached to each door frame. These doors allowed air to flow through the rooms without sacrificing privacy.

Two rooms — a kitchen and a bathroom — were also added on the second level when the piazza was enclosed. At the same time, a three-story staircase was installed in the center of the addition. An elevator was added to this area a few years ago.

It is not known who designed the Greek Revival residence, although the house has been attributed to Charles B. Cluskey. The dates of construction and completion are also unclear.

Shipper Stephen Gardner purchased the trust lot in 1841 and, in 1842, ordered building materials from Henry McAlpin, the maker of the famous Savannah bricks called “grays.” But, by the following year, Gardner lost his property. Evidence suggests the house was not completed by the time Gardner went bankrupt in 1843. At that time, Gardner’s brother from Alabama briefly acquired the house but quickly sold the mansion to Aaron Champion, a Savannah merchant and banker, the same year. Champion sold the house in 1848, only to repurchase the residence four years later in 1852.

Champion owned the house until his death in 1880, when the dwelling passed to his only child, Maria Sophia McAlpin (daughter-in-law of Henry McAlpin), and then her children. Her son and his second wife, Isabel Wilber McAlpin, moved into the mansion in 1895, embarking on a large-scale renovation that resulted in the additional story and rearranging the stairway system.

Various family members lived in or owned the house over the next several decades. The property was finally sold to Alida Harper (later Fowlkes) in 1939. She purchased the grande dame at auction for $9,000, a surprisingly low sum for a home appraised (at the time) for $60,000. Fowlkes had fallen in love with the mansion while passing it on her daily bus ride to work.

Fowlkes filled the Champion-McAlpin House with family heirlooms and antiques she collected from here and abroad, according to Donna Butler, the current caretaker of the house. Most of the furniture in the dining room belonged to Fowlkes’ family, but she collected the china and glassware elsewhere. Other family objects are scattered throughout the house, including portraits of her great grandparents (many times over), Mr. and Mrs. John Pratt from Charleston, and a bed that belonged to her great grandfather, Judge William Law.

Alida Harper Fowlkes’ interest in old houses developed while managing a tea room in the Pink House. When the owner of the building threatened to demolish the structure, Fowlkes joined the Society for the Preservation of Savannah Landmarks to successfully halt those efforts.

During World War II, the budding preservationist and historian sold her restaurant business and focused her sights on running an antiques shop and restoring run-down houses in Savannah.

“She was an early activist in Savannah’s preservation movement,” said Morgan Harrison, an architecture history graduate student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Harrison, who is writing her master’s thesis about Fowlkes, said the businesswoman bought and restored 10 houses in downtown Savannah in addition to the Champion-McAlpin House.

Esther Shaver bought one of those houses in 1975. Her bookstore occupies the space that once housed Fowlkes’ antiques shop.

“She saw potential in the Historic District,” Shaver said. “She had tremendous foresight.”

Alida Harper Fowlkes died in 1985, leaving her home in trust to the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Georgia in memory of her father, William Edward Harper.

“The Society of the Cincinnati,” said Society President Peter Meldrim Wright, “was founded after the American Revolution by George Washington and the officers of the U. S. and French armies.” Members of the Society must be male descendants of these men. There are 13 state societies, representing the original 13 colonies, and one society in Paris, France.

Since the Society of the Cincinnati took over the Champion-McAlpin-Harper-Fowlkes House in the 1980s, it has preserved the interior and exterior of the house and made needed improvements, such as upgrading the electrical system. Much of the work on the house has been done by Sterling Builders, which won a Historic Savannah Foundation award for its efforts in 2000.

“With an eye for what was original,” said El Khalidi, “we saved everything and tried to be true to what was there (from the start).”

Most recently, the Society had a new carriage house built using plans designed by Savannah architect Ken Spriggs. The facility is equipped with a kitchen, rest rooms and a meeting room.

Landscape architect John McEllen designed the garden, which features a bronze sculpture of an eagle, the symbol of the Society. A red maple grown from a seed from George Washington’s Virginia estate, Mount Vernon, also holds a prominent location in the courtyard.

The regal mansion, whose origins are unclear and whose architecture spans centuries, continues to awe and mystify Savannahians, historians and visitors.

Sitting almost unnoticed, the Champion-McAlpin-Harper-Fowlkes House remains one of Savannah’s historic icons.

The Champion-McAlpin-Harper-Fowlkes House is open for group tours on a limited basis. The house is also available for event rentals.

For more information, call 234-2180 and leave a message for the caretaker, Donna Butler.