A grande dame of Savannah, she epitomizes elegance in her ever-evolving historic row home.
Written by Kathryn Drury Wagner
Photography by Andrew Frazier
Jones Street has been called “the prettiest street in America,” and while there are surely other contenders, it must be right up there. Daily, you can spot a fedora-clad guide leading a gaggle of tourists as they snap photos of the charming front doors and photogenic potted greenery. Who can blame the visitors? A kind of soft magic seems to waft down the brick-paved street.
Cora Bett Thomas, though, has lived and worked in the Historic District for long enough that she remembers when some of the houses in the area were derelict — when buildings had gaping holes instead of bay windows. By the time Thomas moved into her row home in the early 1980s, many of the homes across the street were doctor’s offices. “Now it’s nearly all residential,” she says, “but the beauty of downtown is it’s always been mixed use, with homes and shops and other businesses, and very walkable.”
After all these years, the neighborhood continues to delight her. “You will meet people,” she says, “and if you’re out walking your dog, everyone will know your dog’s name in two days. They’ll know your name within two weeks.”
Inside, touching the smooth wooden bannisters in the home, one gets a sense of how much time has passed and the number of people who have lived there in the 180 years since it was built.
Of the previous owners, the most notable is Joe Odom, a lawyer and musician who was one of the colorful figures depicted in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” When Thomas moved into the large home, it was a big transition; she was coming from a two-bedroom apartment with a new husband, her three stepchildren, two dogs, and two cats. There wasn’t a lot of furniture at first, but she gradually accumulated it from Odom and other sources.
Thomas thinks a renovation that moved the front entrance to the ground floor and removed the steps and door took place in the 1950s, as it was already done by the time Joe Odom moved in. During that renovation, the space was repurposed as a living room nook, with a pass-through that gives a nice view down from the staircase.
Her home has always been a work in flux. Rugs get swapped out, art gets relocated, furniture gets reupholstered. A significant refresh was completed in 2023 by interior designer India King, who has known Thomas for three decades. “Cora Bett is a grande dame of the town,” says King. “She’s elegant and she is colorful. She’s like a lighting bolt. She has excellent taste and knows what she wants.”
King’s goal was to create a more cohesive look. “She had accumulated a lot, and it hadn’t been edited,” says King. The floors were also refinished and the walls painted. Prior to the refresh, the home had been quite neutral, with lots of whites and beiges. Thomas wanted to showcase several paintings by her friend, the painter Denise Regan, so King drew from the artwork to bring more color into the home. King used some of Thomas’ collection of Hermès and Ferragamo scarves as fabric to make vibrant throw pillows. (Don’t wince, fashion lovers; in France, she had discovered a way to do this without cutting the scarves.)
Thomas is a dog person, and she currently shares her space with Phoebe, a wicked-smart standard poodle, and Leon, a basset hound who has no problem claiming a couch as his personal throne.
“Her home is filled with action,” says King. “There are dogs coming and going, and she entertains a lot, so wear and tear is a factor.” She designed with this in mind, with details such as using leather on the front of a chair, saving a more decorative and delicate silk for the back.
She also selected stair runners in a high-performance fabric. The living room features sofas by Interlude Home, chairs bought in France, and a coffee table custom-made in Palm Beach. Antiques, as well as lamps made using repurposed vintage architectural elements, are also part of the decor.
The home has many original features, such as the dental molding, though a long-ago renovation removed steps up to the front door and turned a front hallway into a pleasant nook in the living room. The front door is now down on the garden level, accessed by going down a few steps.
When asked about the antique painting of a stern-looking gentleman, Thomas notes the painting is one of a pair. “There’s a female that is as ugly as he is,” she says. “One time, I came home and they were on top of each mantel. They were Joe Odom’s, and he had brought them over. I said, ‘Joe, who are they?’ He said, ‘They can be anyone you want them to be. It’s very good art.’” Thomas’ late husband took glee at the time, creating a backstory for “great-great-great-granddad.” The matching woman? Ruby, according to the faux family lore. “And she was a hooker, but he really loved Ruby,” laughs Thomas.
Thomas loves the home’s porches overlooking a lush private courtyard and carriage house, we she now uses as a rental property. The main home is always evolving, as she and King are constantly tinkering with the home’s look. “We’re working on an entry rug in an antelope pattern, made of polypropylene,” says King. “And we’re talking about reupholstering the couches in a pink.”
“India is very good, but I have to see things to make sure I like it,” says Thomas. One example is upstairs in her bedroom, where Thomas determined the newly installed wallpaper wasn’t quite the right tone. King hired a decorative painter to do a whitewash and a tea wash over the wallpaper, and then Thomas loved it.
Thomas is originally from a small town in North Carolina called Scotland Neck. She first came to Savannah in 1969, was selling real estate by 1974, and then, in 1994, started her own real estate company, Cora Bett Thomas Realty. It eventually had offices in Savannah and Beaufort, and in 2020, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Bay Street Realty Group acquired that business.
She kept her rental business, however, and today, Cora Bett Thomas Rentals and Management continues to work with vacation, long-term, and commercial properties. Demand is especially strong for three- to six-month rentals, notes Thomas. Her business is headquartered on the ground floor of her home, making her commute a pleasant one flight down.
After 50-plus years in real estate, does she ever think of retiring? “I retired for about three weeks,” she admits. “I don’t play bridge. I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ I loved to visit friends, but I thought, ‘I’m going back to work.’ I love working. I love helping people, whether it’s commercial or residential. I love to introduce people to people. I just think this is a beautiful city, and it’s been a blessing to have anything to do with the changes here.”
DETAILS
- Neighborhood: Historic District
- Year built: 1845
- Year purchased: 1984
- Timeline of interior design: Ongoing
- Number of bedrooms: 4
- Number of bathrooms: 4
- Square footage: 4,500
- Interior designer: India King Designs
- Builder/contractor: Eisenberg
- Landscape design: Sprout
- Hardscape design: Sprout
- Kitchen design: Homeowner
- Kitchen appliances: Electrolux refrigerator, KitchenAid range, Bosch dishwasher
- Furniture: Peridot Antiques, Interlude Home, Lee Industries, Bennett
- Paint: Eisenberg
- Wallpaper: Chinois mural with hand painting by Kipling Collins, and Thibaut
- Flooring: Original hardwood
- Lighting: Antiques and custom from antique dealers, Visual Comfort & Co. floor and table lamps, Currey & Co. chandelier, Arteriors
- Accessories: Peridot Antiques, One Fish Two Fish, various antique dealers and markets. The suzani on the back of leather chairs is from the Paris Flea Market.
